Words of Truth

Woo Hoo! The Cubs are the National League Central Division Champions! Only eleven more wins between the Cubs and the World Series Trophy!!! Will it happen? Probably not, but I’m going to enjoy the ride.

Well, we talked to the Radiation Oncologist, and he gave us our options so far as zapping Kim’s head with radiation. I asked him what the odds were that she would develop some kind of superpower, since that is what got the Hulk going, but he didn’t think this would happen. I remain hopeful. 😉

I think we are going to do the “fractionated stereotactic radiation”. That way she doesn’t have to have the HALO screwed into her head, and it has less chance of side effects than the one day thing. Basically, she will go to the hospital once a day, M-F for five to six weeks. They will give her a very low dose of highly focused radiation (to the tumor). It is supposed to make the tumor stop growing, or even shrink (in most cases). We will probably start this sometime after next week, since that is Becky’s birthday.

In other news, Kim’s grandma’s twin sister Evelyn passed away this week. She fell down some stairs, they took her to the hospital, and the next day she passed away. I didn’t know her that well (I have only met her a few times) but I know she has a husband and daughter. Our thoughts go out to them.

So this year I joined a fantasy football league for the first time. I didn’t know how the whole thing was supposed to work, so I needed a little help (thanks Cyndi!). Here’s my team:

Quarterbacks: Peyton Manning, Eli Manning
Running Backs: Deuce McAllister, Dominic Rhodes, LaMont Jordan, Derrick Ward
Wide receivers: Calvin Johnson, Santana Moss, Reggie Wayne, Donte Stallworth
Tight End: Dallas Clark
Defense: Patriots, Colts
Kicker: Neil Rackers

Out of that group, my Active roster this week was as follows:
QB: Peyton Manning
RB: Jordan, Ward
WR: Johnson, Moss, Wayne
TE: Clark
Defense: Patriots
Kicker: Rackers

I won my first game 109-94. Even though the guy I played had Joseph Addai, who had an AWESOME game Sunday. I felt pretty good.

Then I woke up yesterday evening and found out that Deuce McAllister (one of my “big producers”…I hoped) tore his ACL and is out for the season. So I dropped a Deuce (ha ha) and picked up Chris Brown (backup RB for Tennessee).

Those of you out there who have played….I have Eli and Peyton right now. I plan on playing Peyton every week, except for the Colts’ bye week (6), when I will play Eli. Here’s a question: Do I offer Eli in trade after that week, since I don’t ever plan on playing him again? Or do I keep him out of circulation so nobody else can grab him?

Kim got an MRI about a month ago. The doctor looked at the film and said, “You have an acoustic neuroma.” We said, “What’s that?” We are now learning.

Basically, she has a benign growth (aka “tumor”) on her left auditory nerve. It is 11mm wide and 19mm long (think small acorn). We had an appointment with the surgeon this past Wednesday, and we have an appointment with the radiation specialist this coming Thursday (the 27th).

The surgeon told us that, with an AN, we have three options:

1. Observe it.
2. Surgery.
3. Radiation.

Observing it is viable for people who are old, or who have a terminal illness of some other kind. The tumor is slow growing, and would take about 20 years of growth before it kills the patient (due to compression of the brain stem).

Surgery would involve the doctor making a 3 or 4 inch cut behind her ear, drilling a hole, and going in to get the tumor. This would render her entirely deaf in that ear, and would put her out of commission for approx 3 weeks. This would definitely fix the problem, though.

Radiation (we haven’t seen this doctor yet, but the surgeon gave us a little heads-up) would involve Kim lying on a CT Scan-style table with a “football helmet” or some such on her head, while they shoot very precise beams of radiation at the tumor. They can do this in one dose (which has a 80% chance of successfully stopping the growth), or over four weeks in smaller doses (called “fractionated radiation”). The fractionated kind is supposed to be “not as effective” but it has a higher possibility of saving her existing hearing (she’s about 50% deaf in her left ear now). I went to this website,
Fractionated Stereotactic Radiation for Acoustic Neuroma, and it gives a lot of info about the options available.

We will talk to the radiation guy, and then we make our decision about what Kim will have done. If it’s surgery, it will need to be done in about six or seven weeks.