Unexpected Changes

What a difference a week makes.  Last Tuesday we met with Dr Laber, the head of a new OU Cancer Research Center here in Tulsa.  He also happens to specialize in Renal Cell Cancer.  We learned about him through Bobby's biking partner Lloyd.  Dr Laber sat down with us for an hour, looking at what we've been doing the past 5 years and what our options were going forward. While we completely trust Dr Keller and have the highest regard for him, we thought it wouldn't hurt to get a second opinion. Dr Laber agreed with Dr Keller that his cancer was very slow growing, and expected him to "be around for years."  He supported our plans to pursue the clinical trial at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda. We were feeling pretty good about things. 

Last Wednesday, he had a the Brain MRI & CT Scan that NCI requested for the trial. This past Monday we got the sucker punch news that there's a 4mm tumor in his left temporal lobe. The worst possible, and most feared news was all the sudden reality.  But at least the other spots on lungs and adrenal continued to be stable, and it seemed possible this new lesion could be removed surgically. We got connected with a neurosurgeon, and scheduled an appointment with him for Thursday, Dec 22.

Our first priority was to talk to Trip and Michael, but with finals and holiday travel plans, we wouldn't have an opportunity to tell them face to face until the weekend.  We decided to keep the news to ourselves until then. But instead, late Thursday afternoon Bobby started slurring his speech, words were coming out wrong, virtually incoherent, and he had a severe headache on his left side. I called 911, and we've been in the Neuro ICU at St Francis since then.  A brain scan revealed the tumor had started bleeding, and it's putting pressure on the part of the brain that controls speech. We had no idea this could happen.

As of now, Friday, the bleeding has stabilized, settling into a 4cm clot.  The plan is to allow the clot to coagulate, firm up, gel for several days, and have surgery to remove tumor and clot on Wednesday.  It's good to have a plan, but 5 days seems like such a long time.

Communication is a challenge, he understands exactly what's going on, what we are saying, but when he speaks it sounds like a foreign language. He gets fixated on a certain thought, like making sure I call the guy who was planning to come pick up an old couch for charity or reschedule some body work for fender bender from last week. Not exactly out of character for Bobby, who's very conscientious, but a little weird. We're told after surgery his speech should return, but may take a few months. Overall his spirits are very positive. I'm hopeful, but terrified.

Please pray.