ARGH!!!! A FEVER of 103!!!! And SCARY NEUROSURGERY COMING SOON!

Brody has been feeling good today.  He only had a few episodes of nerve pain in his leg and back and his belly pain has not been too bad.  Brody is afraid to move a whole lot for fear of bringing on leg and back pain.  He had some very short walks today but was not willing to push it too much for fear of pain starting up.  His morphine dose has continued to be tapered down again today.   

He had GI studies done today and we should hear the results of those in the morning.  Unfortunately, he had to have an NG tube placed to deliver the contrast.  Getting an NG tube is absolutely no fun!  

Brody continues to being doing okay in the nausea department.  He did vomit a couple times again today.  But we are thankful that at least it comes on quickly and is over quickly.  No lingering nausea.  He does seem to be putting out more in his colostomy bag today.  Hopefully, this is a sign that his gut is finally starting to think about functioning correctly. 

The neurosurgeon came and talked to us again about surgery to remove tumor from Brody's spinal column/spinal canal after reviewing the MRI of the spine.  He says that he should be able to remove at least part of the tumor in the spinal column and wihtin the spinal canal and that he thinks it should help Brody's current nerve related pain.  He also said the tumor is now pressing against the spinal cord and that he hopes during the surgery the tumor slips away easily from the cord.  This statement made my belly drop.  When Brody had radiation treatments to the tumor within the spinal canal, the tumor was well below the spinal cord.  It's certainly grown significantly within the spinal canal.  The tumor enters the spine/spinal column through the lumbosacral region at L5-S1.  This is the segment where the lumbar spine meets the sacral region (bottom of the spine).  Nerves are being "pinched" in this L5-S1 area and causing Brody's foot drop to dramatically worsen and pain in his back and left leg.   The spinal cord does not extend down into the lumbar/sacral region of the spinal column.  Nerves that extend from the spinal cord to the lumbar and sacral levels must travel through the spinal/vertebral canal before they leave the spinal column.  This collection of nerves in the spinal canal is called the cauda equina.   Brody's tumor is growing in this area with these nerves and is now pressing against the spinal cord.  The neurosurgeon wants to attempt to remove part of the tumor coming though the L5-S1 segments to decompress this area.  He also wants to remove tumor from within the spinal canal.  This is tricky business in both areas, of course.   He made it clear he will not be able to remove all of the tumor within these areas.  He does not want to damage the nerves.  His goal is to remove just enough to relieve the pressure on the nerves in these areas.  The neurosurgeon expects the surgery recovery to take between 2 to 3 weeks and expects Brody to be hospitalized for 5 to 7 days after the surgery.  The plan is to do the surgery as soon as possible and he stated he could plan for early this next week.  He and Dr. Cripe (who is also consulting with Dr. Strunk) still need to discuss the big picture together yet though.  The surgery will  not be scheduled until after all the docs get a chance to discuss and then of course confer with us again.  Right now it sounds like sugery to spinal column/spinal canal is coming very soon and then chemo to follow after healing from surgery.  The chemo regimen Brody will get has not yet been decided.  We may hear more about this tomorrow too. 

Brody was glad to have a visit from Alex today.  (He's a friend of Jaden and Brody's from Toledo Children's).  Brody was pretty tired when Alex was here but he was glad to get to see him.  Jaden and Alex enjoyed playing some Minecraft together.  Alex brought Jaden a belated birthday gift which Jaden and Brody are very excited about.  It's a new game for the Wii.  Alex also  picked up our Wii from our house and brought it down to the hospital for us so the boys could all play it together.  Brody got a fun gift too.  A Lego Firetruck set!  All 3 of the boys will have fun building it together.  We also got some yummy snacks that I am sure Brody will like when he's up to eating again.  It was good to see Alex and family today and it was so nice of them to bring all the fun stuff plus our Wii and mail from Toledo for us. 

I got some surprise pictures sent to me today on my phone by my neighbor and good friend, Barbie Shepherd.  She has been busy working on pulling weeds around my house and putting down mulch.  She sent me pictures of the finished work.  I think she may have had some help too.  She said "some of us thought you could use a little gift" and sent the pics.  Serious AWESOME SAUCE!!  Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone involved in this project!  Barbie and her daughter Lucy and her son Evan have all been taking care of the mini zoo at the Pizzifred household and collecting our mail.  We have 2 dogs, 1 cat, saltwater fish, freshwater fish, a frog, and 3 hamsters.  This has even included having to clean the hamster cages.  Kinda a yuckie job, for sure.  She's even mowed the grass while we've been away too.  We are so lucky to have such an awesome neighbor! 

Brody fell asleep for a very long nap this afternoon after Alex left.  He was sleeping away.  Unfortunately, he woke up with a fever of 103!   Not GOOD!  And, a vomiting spell too.  Brody's been started on IV antibiotics, cultures were drawn, caps and IV lines were changed.  Hopefully, the antibiotics do the trick quick.  We don't know what the source of the infection may be. 

We are all missing Geordi.  He is in Toledo staying with friends.  He didn't want to miss some Boy Scouts stuff this week and wanted to get busy on some merit badges he's been working on.  We really, really miss him though and I am sure he misses us too.  He's gonna have to come back to Columbus soon.   My mom and dad have been helping us out with watching Jaden and Geordi a lot too.  Jaden had fun swimming at the YMCA with my mom and he got to go to the fair a couple times too.  Geordi and Jaden have each been staying at the hospital with us a lot too.  They both are worried about their baby brother and don't like being away too long before wanting to come back and see him again.  (I think they miss mom and dad too). 

Brody is sleeping comfortably now and I better think about doing the same. 

Thanks to everyone keeping us in your prayers and for all the wonderful support from family, friends, and community. 

POST UPDATE:  Barbie just let me know who all her helpers were this week with yard work and hamster cages.  I big thank you too goes out to Julia Ryan, Doreen Robeson, Lucy Shepherd, Andrew Shepherd, Ryan Koch, Mirissa Corthell, and Carolynn Corthell.  We have such amazing and wonderful friends.  This is just one example of many things that our friends and community have done for us.  Thank you so much, everybody!  It warms the heart to see all your friends, family, and community pull together to help a family through extremely difficult times.