This was Jared with the probes on his head...funny huh!
This is what Jared's scar looks like from the first biopsy back in 1999... he had me shave his whole head today, normally you cant see it because his hair is soo thick...
Well its Sunday evening, I am sitting in the waiting room while Jared has one final MRI, before his biopsy in the morning. They will put these little probes that look like lifesaver on his head, he will have to keep them on all night. Then when he comes down in the morning for his surgery, they will hook up the probes and with the MRI, they will determine where they need to go in to do the biopsy.
We came down her around 5:00 and dropped the girls and Mitch off at Kylies & Steve's house. They were soo cute to help us out and the girls were soo excited to see their big sissy. My parents along with my sister Kellys family want to come and meet us at Kylie's after to see Jared.
We went down to the Huntsman center on tuesday morning and met with Dr. Coleman, the Neuro oncologist, and had a few more questions answered about chemotherapy. The best chemo to use on the brain is called Temadar, its the best chemo for breaking through the blood brain barrier. The best part is that its a just a pill he would take every day for a minimum of 6 months, with very minimal side effects. He may not even loose his hair.
Then on wednesday morning we met with Dr. Shreve the Radiation doctor. He was soo helpful and helped us to learn more about radiation and how it works. Its alot safer than it was even 10 years ago. They would make a mask of Jareds head, and are able to just radiate the cancer tumor and have minamal effects on the rest of the brain. But the down side is the best way to treat this type of tumor may be to have radiation every day, 5 days a week, for 4-6 weeks...that sounds like soo much, but he said it would be alot smaller dosage given each time.
He also had a PET Scan/CT San on wednesday. They put some sort of radio active chemical in his body (it has a very short half life) and then gave him high doses of glucose. The glucose will seek out the most active tumor cells (cancer lives off of sugars) in his head, where its the fastest growing, and thats where the doctors will do the biopsy, on the most active tumor cells. His treatment for chemo/radiation will all depend on the results of this test and also the biopsy. This will tell the type of tumor as well as what grade his tumor is.
So this last MRI tonight, is more of like a 3-D MRI. They will put little probes on Jared's head (that look kinda like life savers) and Dr. Jensen will hook up the probes again in the morning before his biopsy, and use this MRI to help guide him to the best place in the brain to to the biopsy. He will also use the PET/CT scan to help guide him to the most active cells.
There are two different types of biopsys they could do. One is to just drill a small hole into Jareds head and extract tumor tissue that way, or if the need a bigger surface to look at, they will do a more invasive biopsy and take out a 2 inch peice of his skull and do the biopsy that way. The bigger biopsy is what they did 11 years ago. He has about a 5 inch scar across the top back part of his head, but his hair is soo thick, you cant even see it! Either way, we wont know until right before the surgery which one they will do.
He has to be at the Uof U hospital by 10:00 on monday morning, they've scheduled 4 hours to do the surgery, and he will stay in the hospital anywhere from 2-5 nights, depending on how his recovery goes. We hope is only 2 nights that way we can bring him home for Thanksgiving!
I hope to keep this updated as best as I can over the next several days and weeks.
Thanks soo much for all the love and prayers in our behalf. There is a very calm and sweet spirit in our home, we know the Lord is with us now and we feel his love. We have felt all of your love, prayers and support! Thanks to you all!
We came down her around 5:00 and dropped the girls and Mitch off at Kylies & Steve's house. They were soo cute to help us out and the girls were soo excited to see their big sissy. My parents along with my sister Kellys family want to come and meet us at Kylie's after to see Jared.
We went down to the Huntsman center on tuesday morning and met with Dr. Coleman, the Neuro oncologist, and had a few more questions answered about chemotherapy. The best chemo to use on the brain is called Temadar, its the best chemo for breaking through the blood brain barrier. The best part is that its a just a pill he would take every day for a minimum of 6 months, with very minimal side effects. He may not even loose his hair.
Then on wednesday morning we met with Dr. Shreve the Radiation doctor. He was soo helpful and helped us to learn more about radiation and how it works. Its alot safer than it was even 10 years ago. They would make a mask of Jareds head, and are able to just radiate the cancer tumor and have minamal effects on the rest of the brain. But the down side is the best way to treat this type of tumor may be to have radiation every day, 5 days a week, for 4-6 weeks...that sounds like soo much, but he said it would be alot smaller dosage given each time.
He also had a PET Scan/CT San on wednesday. They put some sort of radio active chemical in his body (it has a very short half life) and then gave him high doses of glucose. The glucose will seek out the most active tumor cells (cancer lives off of sugars) in his head, where its the fastest growing, and thats where the doctors will do the biopsy, on the most active tumor cells. His treatment for chemo/radiation will all depend on the results of this test and also the biopsy. This will tell the type of tumor as well as what grade his tumor is.
So this last MRI tonight, is more of like a 3-D MRI. They will put little probes on Jared's head (that look kinda like life savers) and Dr. Jensen will hook up the probes again in the morning before his biopsy, and use this MRI to help guide him to the best place in the brain to to the biopsy. He will also use the PET/CT scan to help guide him to the most active cells.
There are two different types of biopsys they could do. One is to just drill a small hole into Jareds head and extract tumor tissue that way, or if the need a bigger surface to look at, they will do a more invasive biopsy and take out a 2 inch peice of his skull and do the biopsy that way. The bigger biopsy is what they did 11 years ago. He has about a 5 inch scar across the top back part of his head, but his hair is soo thick, you cant even see it! Either way, we wont know until right before the surgery which one they will do.
He has to be at the Uof U hospital by 10:00 on monday morning, they've scheduled 4 hours to do the surgery, and he will stay in the hospital anywhere from 2-5 nights, depending on how his recovery goes. We hope is only 2 nights that way we can bring him home for Thanksgiving!
I hope to keep this updated as best as I can over the next several days and weeks.
Thanks soo much for all the love and prayers in our behalf. There is a very calm and sweet spirit in our home, we know the Lord is with us now and we feel his love. We have felt all of your love, prayers and support! Thanks to you all!
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