On Thursday, we established the planning for Colin’s return home. He received a rapid MRI today (interrupting his afternoon nap — ugh!) and an arterial blood gas test. He passed both; the ventricles are stable and the blood gas is fine. The latter test was conducted because of rapid breathing.
The pulmonologists visited today and said that his breathing was probably because of action of the tumor on the brain stem. This is not currently dangerous and we can expect to see some variation in his breathing during the course of treatment. His blood is fully oxygenated and he otherwise looks healthy.
Also, his physical therapy is progressing swimmingly (though not in the water). He stood 100% weight bearing today and is making walking motions. This was all very tiring for him but good and will continue during his time home. He may be able to walk fully weight bearing with some balance help during his time home.
It’s unclear how long he will stay. Much of this depends on how he does at home and how he looks during an office visit with his neurosurgeon on Monday.
All of the imaging, notes and pathology slides went by FedEx to Boston today. The neurosurgeon there received a more concise presentation of Colin’s case and has started consulting directly with our neurosurgeon on the progress of the case. This isn’t a great surprise to us based on our research on the surgery aspect.
The brain tumor clinic will see the entire case and provide its multi-disciplinary opinion after their meeting next Thursday. We still not have heard back from Denver.
Colin should be discharged sometime on Friday and we will look forward to having visitors during his time home. We haven’t yet figured out the best way of managing this, but somebody will be home during this period with the exception of medical appointments.
It will probably be best for us to establish some quiet times for him to rest, which we will post. Between recovering from surgery and increasing his mobility, he needs his rest! We look forward to welcoming visitors. This is a great opportunity for him to see people before he goes in for his big surgery. We do ask that anybody who has a contagious illness keep their distance, as we want the little patient in the best possible shape on his way into the OR. We hope to see many of you soon!