Well, the appointment with my Mayo neurologist went exactly as I thought it would. The Mayo doctors and the UW doctors don't completely agree on treatment plans. The Mayo doctors and UW doctors do agree on me having had the ETV surgery on Tuesday, at least. That, plus the Decadron steroids (the most evil drug on the planet), that I'm taking are buying us time to make an informed and well-thought treatment plan decision.
Thalamus tumors are a highly-debated topic in the medical community. They don't know enough to say, "this is how we treat this type of tumor, most effectively and safely, every time."
We did get a lot of questions answered, so that part was good. We're left with a very important decision to make - surgery then chemo or just chemo. The UW doctors are confident that they can remove enough of the tumor to be worth the surgery risk. The Mayo doctors don't think that enough of the tumor could be removed for it to be worth the surgery risk since it's such a deep brain tumor. To further complicate matters, Mayo is usually the one that says surgery can be done when other hospitals contend that it cannot.
Either way I will be doing chemo (same kind I did last time - Temodar - plus another if needed). The good news is that we have many pharmaceutical treatment options that have proven success. We do still have radiation as a back-up option, since it has been 6 years since my last treatment.
We're going to meet with a UW neurology oncologist early next week for another treatment opinion before we make a decision.
Thank you to everyone for the prayers and healing wishes. N. and I and our families really appreciate the support.
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