April 24

Hi,

It's been quite a day, but we learned a lot and are hopeful that things will get better. I know all of the positive thoughts and prayers must have helped.

The good news is that the CAT scan showed no bleeding going on in Denny's brain. The MRI shows that the tumor is still stable and there is no change since November. These two positive results make the rest seem not so bad because they are treatable.

Our day started at the pain clinic. The doctor there explained that the shingles virus actually destroys the sheath that surrounds a nerve, making the pain so unbearable. Denny is still having a lot of pain in his right cheek and jaw area, so the recommendation is to numb those nerves by injections. That will be done on Monday morning. Until then the pain will be controlled with morphine.

Next, he had an EEG to investigate the seizure activity. The neurologist read the test and came to tell us that there is significant spikes on the left side of the brain, which is contributing to Denny's speech and processing abilities. The doctor seemed confident that these problems will reverse themselves over a relatively short period of time. Den has already had his first dose of the anti-seizure medicine.

They repeated the EKG done yesterday and confirmed that Denny has a slight irregular heartbeat, but that is only going to be monitored for now.

Late this afternoon Denny's temperature was a little high, so another chest X-ray was ordered and the doctor started him on an antibiotic right away because she suspects the pneumonia is coming back. That's very possible since he's had so little activity the past couple of weeks.

So, if all goes right, there should be no need for pain meds and the anti-seizure medicine might even help the fatigue. That's just a wild hope, but the chronic tiredness is still the mystery to all of the medical personnel because Den is still taking a pretty big dose of steroids.

I left him sleeping soundly and with a couple of Tylenol PM's I plan to do the same.
I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! Good night!

Love,
Carla