Sunday, April 13

Hello friends. Sorry for such a delay in communicating. I wish I could say it was because absolutely nothing was going on - boring, long days. But not the case. Glenna and Bob did fly home last Wed. Glenna was so happy to be with Mary again. But not long after Glenna got home, she starting getting some suspicious symptoms. She had the flashing lights again several times, but this time she experienced a numbness in her left face and even down into her left arm. She called both her Boston docs and her NIH docs and they both agreed that she should get up to the MGH emergency room to be checked out. So on Thursday afternoon, Bob, Glenna & I drove up to MGH and went through the incredibly long process of being seen in the ER. She had a cat scan first and from that first scan, the ER doctor saw that there seemed to be another bleed in one of the existing lesions in her brain. They followed up with an MRI, and then a second cat scan later to determine if the bleed was continuing or stablizing. It seemed stable for the moment, but they did tell us that they saw a new lesion - very small - but something new in the brain. There was much discussion about what to do, whether radiation was going to be an option. The docs decided no, not at this time. It could do as much harm as good. She was not having any more symptoms. But they decided to admit her so she could rest and be monitored through the night. At 3 am, they got her into a room. Unfortunately, she had to be on the Neurological floor - which is not the most peaceful place to be. Lots of trauma going on. The next day was a series of discussions with docs and lots of waiting. She was pretty sure she would be going home that afternoon, but things just kept dragging on, and before we knew it, she was told that she had to stay another night. At least she got to move to the window bed which had a great view of the Red Sox light! Her "cousin", Nicole, got us a room at the fabulous Liberty House next door (thank you so much, Nicole) so Bob (who had not slept at all since Wed night) crashed early and I stayed with Glenna and we watched the Sox game. Yesterday was another wait all day, day to find out if she could go home. Being Saturday, nothing moved very quickly. She had to have one more cat scan to make sure there was no progression of the bleed. Once that was done, they determined things were stable enough that she could go home - FINALLY.

The next issue of concern was whether she would be able to go through her next treatment at NIH. Her docs down there met and decided that with a week's postponement, they would let her have the treatment regardless of the brain activity. It will mean that the treatment will be riskier for her, but they will monitor her very closely to make sure she is OK all the way through. They want to give her one more week for her body to stabilize and for her to try to gain some more weight before getting starting. If all goes well, and no more kinks, she will fly down to Maryland on the 23rd and start treatment on the 25th of this month.

So that's where things stand at this point. She has healed so well from her stomach surgery. It was quite a blow to have more issues with her brain. But we are all just looking at it as one more cog in the wheel, and she will get through it as she has with all her other cogs - take care of it and move ahead. Glenna WILL BE the miracle child and will get through this and be a voice for others to stay strong and brave, and keep moving ahead no matter what.

Thank you all for keeping her in your thoughts and prayers. She needs it now more than ever.
We love you, MK