the Lanfords

A few of Chad’s MRI results, dated from November 13, 2007 until June 29, 2010.
You can click the images to see more detail.

1) A series of images of the progression of Chad’s primary tumor.
11.13.2007: The day after his first seizure. Quite astonishing that something so large was residing within him.
11.08.2008: Three months after first round of chemo. Stable. No change, either way.
02.04.2009: Six months after chemo. Still stable. No change.
08.05.2009: Five months after tumor resection and one month after chemo and radiation completed. Necrotic (dead) tissue noted, no regrowth.
11.04.2009: Still stable, mostly. Still large. But no regrowth and appears to be “behaving.”

2) The discussion of ventricular abnormalities
Chad had an extreme case of hydrocephalus – excess spinal fluid around the brain in April 2009.
It was decided that the surgery in March 2009 left Chad with a hole, unfortunately, in between his ventricles. The normal “communication” that occurs between ventricles and the production (in his case over-production), was compromised.
His ventricles were engorged with fluid, but they didn’t recognize it and produced more.
The result? Major headaches.
And two shunts, April 2009 and May 2009, to aid the process of draining excess fluid.

3) March 2010
There were changes present, but we wouldn’t find this out until much, much later. Dr. T was out of town and we did not see him the day of the MRI. His PA told us that the scan was stable, didn’t need a follow-up until September and after Dr. T returned, he would notify us if he noticed anything alarming. We never heard anything. And so many previous scans had been deemed stable, that neither of us really questioned it. We always had the question in the back of our minds — but we decided to calm ourselves. No news is good news.
However, during a routine checkup at Chad’s oncologist in Raleigh in mid-June, we discovered that the radiologist had faxed his MRI report, stating there were slight abnormalities present. And that Chad shouldn’t wait the recommended six months for a follow-up MRI. They recommended immediate action. June 29, 2010 couldn’t come quickly enough.

In these scans, you can see the beginning of new growths, circled in red. I’ve also outlined the regrowth of IT. And the last image depicts that Chad’s ventricles were finally working as they should. The first two images show the weakened veins supplying cancer cells to the rest of the brain. The weaker the vein structure, the more contrast dye leaks during an MRI.

4) The scans that changed everything
These are the images that made me nauseous in the waiting room of the hospital.
These are the images that broke my heart and unfortunately answered questions we’d asked far too many times.
They show regrowth, and a lot of it, in three month’s time. There were a few spots on Chad’s MRI from March 2010, but not enough to be concerned. By June 29, 2010 the cells grew rapidly enough to show themselves clearly on the MRI.
Looking at these pictures and knowing the intensity of their wrath, we can only image the size they are now – three and a half months later. I would expect they are close to triple in size at this moment.

5) A series of changes present with Chad’s latest MRI on June 29, 2010
These images depict new tumor growth, regrowth of the original tumor(s), the growth and shift of the midline of Chad’s brain tissue, and veins supplying tumor nourishment.

6) Comparing changes from March to June
You can clearly see the dramatic changes over three month’s time.
The first image – it makes me nauseous. What was originally thought to be flair from the MRI was actual tumor tissue. The middle image from March doesn’t show the new lesions, as the final image shows a great change.
(In case you are wondering, the edges that are “missing” in some pictures and the semi-circle halos that are present in a majority of the scans are flairs from the screws and shunts. A tiny bit of metal — and the MRI picks it up through the images.)