comments

Now anyone reading this blog can post a comment to any of the posts. You don't have to have a google account or a blog to comment now. Thought this would be easier for people to leave us messages. The comments will also show up below the post so everyone can read all the comments. Have fun!

May is Brain Tumor Awareness Month

I am going to try to post information about brain tumors over the course of this month for awareness because May is the month. I got this from the kid section of the American Brain Tumor Association webpage so it's on their level. Just a start for the month. I thought it was cute they had kids pages for them to learn about tumors from and post their stories and other educational stuff.

American Brain Tumor Association gets credit for the information.


Brain tumors are not common in young people.


Each year, only 2200 children in the United States are found to have a brain tumor.


About 3 children out of every 100,000 children will have a brain tumor.


Brain tumors usually happen in adults ages 35 and older.


Each year about 180,000 adults are found to have a brain tumor.


There are different types of brain tumors. As a matter of fact, there are over 100 types of brain tumors!


When a child is found to have a brain tumor, it is most often a "medulloblastoma" or an "astrocytoma" brain tumor. These are both very specific types of brain tumors.


Medulloblastomas are named after a part of the brain called the "medulla oblongata." The medulla connects the bottom of the brain to the top of the spinal cord.

Astrocytomas are named after the Latin word "astro" meaning "star." The cells that make up an astrocytoma look like stars.
The types of brain tumors more often found in adults: "glioblastoma," "meningioma," and "oligodendroglioma."


Oligodendrogliomas have cells that look like fried eggs!

Scientists are working hard to learn what causes brain tumors and how to make them stop growing. Right now, scientists are focusing on the DNA inside tumor cells. Most brain tumors seem to have an abnormal chromosome somewhere in their DNA - how this happens is not yet known.

Scientists DO know that nothing you think, say, or do can cause a brain tumor. And, you cannot "catch" a brain tumor from someone else.

Half of the tumors that begin in the brain are "benign." Benign means "not cancer." Doctors usually treat benign tumors with an operation to remove the tumor.


Some brain tumors are cancer. Those tumors are called "malignant" tumors, and they can be treated. Doctors usually begin with an operation to remove the tumor. Radiation and chemotherapy are then used to help get rid of any leftover tumor. Radiation is treatment using special medical x-ray beams. Chemotherapy is treatment with drugs that kill cancer cells.

July, 2007

Supporting World Vision

I recommend HotelsCombined.com and sent $20 to World Vision!

You can shout and help too.

MRI results

Great News!! Ellie had a clear MRI today! Dr. Bautti, radiation oncologist, said everything looked great! We were happy and relieved to hear this. He sais we'd do another in four months. So he is stretching it a little more. He said soon we would go to six months apart for the MRIs. Then she got the clearance for surgery on the 14th if she is over her little bit of lasting cough. If she isn't then we need to call them a couple days ahead of time and let them know how she's doing and they'll decide to postpone it or do it. We are trying to get her 100% healthy but it may be hard since Nathan is now coughing and has a runny nose.

For those of you who don't completely understand the upcoming surgery they are doing what is called a 7-12 facial nerve graft. We have a nerve in the neck below our ear that gives us sensation in our earlobe. They are going to cut part of this nerve out and attach one end to her 7th nerve which is her facial nerve and then cut the 12th nerve which is her tongue nerve and splice it in there so it comes out like a branch from that nerve. This will then grow together hopefully and give her tone back in her face. Then maybe after 8 months of recovery she will be able to move her tongue so her mouth moves up into a full smile. This will take practice doing facial exercises but it should work. It's worked on others they have done so we pray it is successful for Ellie also. One thing they learned in past experiences is that it works best if this surgery is done within 2 years of the first surgery. After that nerves tend to die off and "pull back" which makes it hard for healthy attachment. She is only 1 year out of surgery so she should be a prime candidate for this to work. The only little bit of a bummer is it takes a long time to start seeing changes. First she'll start to get tone back in her face then when we notice that she'll have to start practicing trying to move that side of her face. This change could take as much as a year. We are thankful for amazing medical advancements!

Thanks for everyone's support and encouragement through the cancelled surgery and MRI these past two weeks. See yall soon!

Tuesday's MRI

Well we will be in Iowa City Tuesday, May 4th for another follow-up MRI for Ellie. This time it is going to be a stealth MRI which is a 12 minute one. We are going to try to just give her some oral meds to help her calm down and have her try it without general anesthesia. They will have to use contrast to get pictures so we are also hoping she lets them do the IV for that. We need huge prayers from 8-9am Tuesday. This is the time where we are preping her for the procedure. She has a special way she wants to sit on our lap and put her arm out and turn her head. Then have one of us cover her eyes so she doesn't look at them putting the IV in. She will have cream on her arm first to numb it so it's not really going to hurt. If this is what is going to help we will do it for sure. We will try this tomorrow and hope it all goes well. If I get a chance I'll post a quick update on facebook the results of the MRI and then blog about it later. Thanks all for your prayers.

Relay For Life pictures

Below are pictures Ellie's friend Emma's mom Heidi took for us at Relay for Life during the walk. This is the first lap where survivors got to walk with their family members. This was very touching for me walking this lap. I couldn't talk, I was all choked up. You can see Ellie on Ryan's shoulders and then Ellie walking with Emma during the second lap when everyone got to join in. This was a long, loud night, but the girls and Nate had fun anyway. They played in a tent we set up and eventually fell asleep. Ryan and I were up all night with tiny attempts at snoozes since the music and activities were so loud. Nathan cashed out at midnight or 1am and the girls made it until 3am. Craziness, but fun! Although next year I believe we will join an outdoor relay that is quieter and more family friendly.

Our team did such a great job at raising money we made the bronze level. There are bronze, silver, and gold levels depending on the amount of money your team raises. This is great for our first year. Maybe next year we will shoot for silver! Thanks to all the team members; Ryan, Heidi, Stephanie, Marilyn, Javier, Meghan, Jennifer, DoLoras, Emma, and more thanks to everyone who donated to the cause, Julie, Tim, Jane, Mike, Nadia, Amy, team members and many more. I believe our team raised around $1,200 for the American Cancer Society. Thanks to ABC Embroidery in Evansdale who gave us a great price, and did beautiful artwork, on the TEAM ELLIE T-shirts for the relay.

www.Spokeo.com

I saw this from a friend on Facebook. www.Spokeo.com is a web page where people can search your name and find out a bunch of your personal information. When I found mine a lot was wrong and it was under my maiden name, but none the less I wanted it removed. So if you want to search you, see what info is posted and decide if you want it off then go for it. www.Spokeo.com If you decide to have your information removed go to the very bottom, below the scrolling info where your info is, and click on privacy. Paste the URL to your info page on the space then your email and the code. Then go to your email and click the link they send you and it will say if you were removed. Then I would suggest refreshing your info page to see if you even come up when searched for. It worked for me but you can only remove two or three people from one email address. Good luck!