Friday's visit to see Dr. Watts was a much dreaded one...but he always does such a good job at putting Sandlyn and us at ease. We count that as a blessing! He did have the results from the scans...he said that the brain MRI did not show any tumor growth in the surgical site....That is Great!! He also said that the only thing unusual in the brain MRI was what they call "bright spots" that are commonly found in neurofibromatosis patients and nothing to be concerned about at all. So...all in all the brain MRI was clear! The chest x-ray came back ok. It showed a mass on her spine that they believe to be a neurofibroma, but they are not going to investigate it any further at this time.
That is all good news and we are definitely happy with it, but as we have said before...this doesn't answer the question..."Is the cancer anywhere else?" We questioned him extensively about this unknown....and this is what he told us. His concern in regard to this MPNST is that it will come back at the original surgical site OR it might come back in her neck in the lymph nodes. That is what he really expects to happen. There is also a very good chance that it will resurface in the lungs. He says that we are correct in the information we found that this is usually found in arms and legs and he said that we may find that to be true in Sandlyn's case, but since this is an "adult" cancer...it is hard to decide just exactly how much searching and biopsies we should do. All in all...the cancer can be other places in her body and we don't know it right now. At this point, we should just research areas that seem to be giving her trouble and also keep watch over the first place that this cancer was found.
We asked him if another one of her neurofibromas could change into cancer...the answer was yes....since one has already done that another one could easily do that. We asked him how we could know if this is an original site or a metastasis...he said at this point, it is only his best guess with no other major symptoms of it anywhere else. Although, Sarah and I got a lot more information and answers to our questions...we both left the office feeling very strange.
It wasn't an office visit full of hope and yet Dr. Watts is cautiously optimistic. He says that Sandlyn looks really good. He could NOT believe how well her head has healed up!!...think that could have something to do with good nutrition?? He said that her spirit was so sweet and so strong...and that he believed that would carry her a long way. I think he is definitely right about that. His plans are to repeat the MRIs in 3 months (Feb).
Thank you all for your continued prayers on her behalf and ours.
I do have another prayer request to make of you. Our good friend, Allen Jamerson, has been diagnosed with a large tumor on his kidney. Because of the size of the tumor the doctors are 80-90% sure it is malignant. He is to have the kidney and tumor removed sometime next week (Dec. 2nd or 4th -- as of this writing the date had not been finalized). Allen is one of our deacons and a godly man with a wonderful wife and two precious daughters. Please pray for his health and recovery. Also please remember his wife, Julie, as she takes care of him.
As my sweet Sarah would say…until next time, be a blessing to others!
Pray without ceasing. Have a wonderful T-giving. Could I ask if the Jamersons are related to the Jamersons once of Lakeland Fl. who lost thier daughter at FC? it would of been in ummmm lets see 93 94ish? Thank you!
Thanks- hope y'all had a wonderful thanksgiving also- glad you're getting to come up and enjoy the Auburn/Alabama game. I'm not sure I'm going to watch it around all these crazy Auburn fans though... :-)
This is just a reminder that a week from tomorrow (Thurs, Nov. 20th) is Sandlyn's brain MRI and chest x-ray. For whatever reason, the tumor board has only ordered an MRI of her brain and nothing else. This will tell them if the tumor has already begun growing back in the same place (for which we see NO physical evidence of that on the outside of her scalp) and if the cancer has metastisized to the brain. The chest x-ray will be the first step in looking at her lungs (common metastis site). It will not surprise us at all if they follow that with a chest CT. She has several weakened areas in her lungs that could very well leave them with more questions than answers with just a regular xray. The tests that are ordered at this time will not tell us or the doctors if this cancer is anywhere else in her body...and although that leaves us feeling very uneasy...the facts are that we do NOT plan to treat this cancer with chemo. Sandlyn's MRI will be with sedation and will begin at 8 a.m. It will be done at an outpatient facility here in Birmingham and not at Children's Hospital. Next Friday, the day after her tests, we will meet with our oncologist, Dr. Watts at 1:30 in the afternoon to discuss results and for a check-up. That is when we should be able to pass along any news to you.
Sunday evening after worship services, Sarah, her mom and dad, and Sandlyn will head towards North Carolina. Sandlyn's appt will be Monday afternoon (24th) and then we will start back home. Hopefully, our appt in North Carolina will finish out several days of collecting information about where we are right now in Sandlyn's battle. There are many days that we can close our eyes to "cancer" and live life as normally as can be done...and there are days that we can not. Let's just say, next week, cancer will have our attention front and center.
A great big THANK YOU goes out to everyone who is helping us! So many of you have taken the stress of paying for hospital and doctor bills, nutritional supplements, juices and teas and the equipment we have needed for Sandlyn's care,... and made that stress disappear!! YOU ALL are an amazing support group and prayer warriors!!
I can hardly believe I have a 17-year old son. What an amazing young man he is becoming!
The last 17 years have flown by. Davis has an incredible future ahead of him. Still so many things to discover...and do. He has his goals set, but most of all he is focused on what is most important; obtaining a home in heaven.
Stop by and wish him a Happy Birthday if you get a chance.
Happy Birtday, son. We love you and are so thankful God chose us to be your parents.
This incredible woman created a quilt based on Sandlyn’s painting. She aptly named it Sandlyn’s Game Face.
It’s not like she isn’t busy with her own life and eight children. Nina took the time to translate Sandlyn’s artwork into the beautiful quilt pictured here.
This incredible gift is proudly displayed in the entrance hall of our home for all to see and enjoy. The detail in the stitches is magnificent. It takes a true artist to create something like this.
I am trying to get the order together for Sandlyn's painting print. We finally have all of the pricing in and have actually ordered one of the prints to make sure they were going to look fine. They look great! Thanks to a good friend, she found us a printer and one that would ship it directly to you so that I will not have to worry about getting them to each person. We have not set a price for the prints, but it is going to need to be at least a $40 donation to cover everything and all of the extra will go into Sandlyn's account at Regions to help cover her medical and nutritional expenses. If you want one, please email me at sarahfultz@bellsouth.net and give me your address and name and I will send you our address. I will put you on the list and try to send the first order off this weekend or the first of the week. When you send the money for the print, I would appreciate if you would put "for painting" in a note with it, so I will make sure I have covered everything.
Thank you so much and for more info on Sandlyn, you can go to www.caringbridge.com/visit/nathanandsandlyn. Please pray!!
