An Update on Adam

Yesterday, Adam had a procedure where they did an angiogram and embolization of the tumor. They threaded a catheter through his arteries up to his brain and used x-rays and injected dye to map the blood supply of the tumor, then they injected a polymer which closed off the selected blood vessels and blocked about half of the blood supply to the tumor.

The procedure lasted about an hour and a half; it went well and he came through it fine. When he woke up, he was aware & fairly happy (although somewhat uncomfortable and annoyed with being trapped in the hospital and in his bed). This morning, he was a little tired and cranky, but generally in good shape.

Today, he’s having surgery to actually remove the tumor. (He’s in the operating room as I write this). The tumor is about the size of a golf ball; his surgeon describes it as large. I’m not sure of the precise procedure, but apparently they can get access via a relatively small incision; they’re going to get to the tumor by pushing past the left side of his brain, which will give him some temporary physical weakness on his right side. They’ll then cut the tumor out; the primary risk in this operation is the bleeding from cutting the tumor away. The surgery is scheduled for four hours, but it may take longer (which doesn’t imply a serious problem). There’s some possibility that they won’t be able to get all the tumor out in this operation and they’ll have to do another one; this also doesn’t imply a worse outcome; it’s just possible that they won’t be able to get it all from this direction.

After removing the tumor, they’ll test it to determine if it’s malignant or not; that test should take close to a week. (They also, as a matter of procedure, get a second opinion on that diagnosis).

He’ll continue to be in the pediatric ICU for at least a couple or three days after the surgery, and then remain in the hospital for a couple days more, so we expect to possibly be here for another week (plus or minus). The staff here have all been great with Adam and with us; informative, supportive, and helpful.

Henry and Lucy are doing well. It's all a little above Henry’s head, but Lucy’s been concerned for Adam. My father, Peter, arrived Sunday and has been helping out with the kids. Laura's mom, Barbara, came in on Friday and has also been very helpful, more here at the hospital; she's a nurse, so she knows her way around a hospital bed.