A Good Day

After much anticipation, today was appointment day with Dr. Pikul of Kaiser. We had heard good things about his surgery skills from Cedars-Sinai and that he was the Go-To guy for brain mapping and a UCLA referral.  Steve had a repeat MRI done Tuesday and we were anxious to hear how it compared to the older MRIs.

Terry called me at lunch time and was very happy. They were very pleased with how informative and nice Dr. Pikul was and, better yet, he told them the MRI showed no progression of the tumor or edematous area (black area of swelling) from the November 21st MRI and therefore, surgery did not need to be rushed. Steve was stable for now and they had time to decide details of what they wanted to do.  The first date available for a non-emergency surgery was the first week in January through Kaiser.

BUT, Steve and Terry are changing their insurance coverage effective January 1st away from Kaiser and into an Aetna plan which allows them to go to their facility of choice.  They discussed their options and have decided to go with Cedars-Sinai. They felt better with the Cedars facility than with the UCLA facility after their appointments yesterday so they have booked Steve to have brain surgery with a Dr. Patel at Cedars on January 3. Terry has already been on the phone working on the pre-authorization for the surgery so they will be ready to go on the first available day. Cedars-Sinai offers the clinical trial with the tumor vaccine which they will try to participate in (his tumor has to have the right make up).  I'm not sure when the functional MRI will be done, but Terry is working on it.

Steve and Terry feel relief. There is time for Christmas and a temporary reprieve from constant appointments and worries. Surgery is scheduled and treatment will happen.

They were decking the halls with boughs of garland and lights. The stockings were hung by their new chimney and they were merry making tonight. All of the families will descend upon them for the holidays and we will be loud and cluttered for several days.