OT: My wife Kari: Good news and bad

[scirocco16vr32 at gmail.com (Chris Bennett)]

My family's thoughts and prayers are with you an yours my friend. 
We've been there.

Chris

On 4/25/06, Camron D. Crouse <camron@worldaccessnet.com> wrote:
> Scirocco content: Slim to none... have neglected my Scirocco for obvious reasons.  Thanks for
> reading anyway, I've been quite scarce around here lately...
>
> (Original posting to too many recipients; reposted here for .org list)
>
> As few of you know, my wife Kari Norick was diagnosed with a tiny non-malignant tumor in her
> midbrain just over a year ago. On April 1, 2005, she had a shunt placed in her head to drain spinal
> fluid which had been collecting in her ventricles due to blockage. She spent most of the year
> healthy and happy, and we were married on July 2. This shunt functioned for several months, but
> required a "revision" late in the summer due to clogging.  The shunt clogged again late in the year,
> was replaced, clogged again, replaced, etc.  She had a total of 9 shunt-related surgeries between
> April and the following January, mostly in December.
>
> Finally she was out of the hospital in mid-January after a 3-week stay, gaining her strength back
> through physical therapy.  A couple weeks later, however, her strength plateaued and started to
> decline. A New MRI scan showed that the tumor was becoming malignant; it is likely a grade 3 or
> grade 4 glioma. (Because of its location in the midbrain, a biopsy was deemed impossible, let alone
> surgery to remove the growth.) Kari was put on medication to help cope with brain swelling, and her
> strength improved just enough for us to complete a 6-week course of radiation therapy on "Good
> Friday", April 14, 2006, as well as chemotherapy with a new type of cancer-fighting drug with low
> side effects.
>
> That should bring everyone up to date. So this is where we are right now:
> A recent MRI proved that the radiation and chemo were effective at killing the malignancy - this is
> very good news. However, this does not mean that the tumor has just disappeared, but rather the
> cancer-detecting dyes used in the MRI scan no longer light up.  In other words, there is still a
> mass in her midbrain, which may (will) become cancerous again sometime in the future.
>
> Right now Kari is profoundly weakened; She was admitted to Southwest Washington Medical Center in
> Vancouver (where she works as a pharmacist, and where her mother Sharon also works as a nurse) on
> Wednesday April 19 after a follow-up with her Medical Oncologist. What was supposed to be an
> overnight observation has so far turned into a week-long stay and counting.  She can no longer stand
> or walk, she can barely speak or sit upright on her own, she cannot swallow food or liquid of any
> kind (a feeding tube was placed just before noon today), she is confused, suffers from headaches,
> and is very jittery and sleepless due to steroid medication used in hopes of reducing swelling
> around the tumor in the very sensitive midbrain. She can, however, usually answer yes-or-no
> questions accurately with a nod or shake.
>
> There are a few scenarios we are facing at this point.
>
> 1. The high-dose IV steroid medication could finally kick in within a week or so and help to
> stabilize the swelling from radiation, so that she can do physical therapy and get strong enough to
> go home.  She had been on the medication, called Decadron, on relatively low doses since January,
> and she may be becoming tolerant of it even now that she's on very high doses.
>
> 2. The steroid dosage that she is now on could be too high (my opinion, not necessarily the
> Doctors'), and that is the source of most of her symptoms right now - jitteryness, inability to
> swallow, etc. - due to side-effects (though weak, Kari could eat with little problem, and walk
> around the house with assistance, even the day she was admitted to SWMC).
>
> 3. Her weakened condition could improve if the radiation and chemo are able to make the tumor shrink
> down somewhat, relieving pressure on her vital midbrain.  No one has given us an exact timeline on
> how long this would take, but it would be a couple months before shrinkage would be complete.
>
> 4. This is very difficult for me to write this, but we may very well be near the end.  It is very
> hard for me to accept this scenario, but the high doses of medication to combat weakness from brain
> swelling should have helped by now, and they clearly have not (yet).... she has only gotten worse.
> The tumor may not shrink, and may even be continuing to grow, despite all of our hard work.  It is
> extremely painful to think of going on without this wonderful, vibrant, beautiful girl, as it is to
> see her suffering so much right now.
>
>
> I might not have another chance to ask for thoughts and prayers of healing from everyone, so I am
> doing it now.  This is my call out.  To those that know and love Kari as much as her family and I,
> as well as to those that I dearly hope get to meet her in the future when things get better, lets
> all put our hearts together for her.  We love our Kari!
>
>
> Sincerely,
> Camron Crouse (husband), Sharon and Randy Norick (parents), Stephanie and Amanda (sisters)
> Edie and Bill Crouse (mother- and father-in-law)
>
>
>
> Thank you so much, Everyone!
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