This is probably the most difficult update that I’ve written yet, and sadly, will not be the most difficult I will have to write. All of Isabella’s doctors believe that the spot in Isabella’s brain is recurrent tumor. Any hopes we had that this was a mistake or that it was just scar tissue were dashed this week. In cases of recurrent malignant brain tumors, there is no chance for cure. Although there are treatment options that may help prolong Isabella’s life for maybe weeks or months, the cancer will eventually spread and kill Isabella.
We received this news a couple of days ago and it’s taken a couple of days for us to come to grips with the news. For the past month, even though we saw a bunch of signs that this indeed was recurrent, we at least had a slim glimmer of hope that it may be scar tissue. But having the absolute certainty of this has been very difficult for us to deal with. We don’t know how much time is left (personally, I don’t want to know), but the spot did grow slightly in the 4 weeks since we first saw it.
I mentioned that there are treatment options available, but the thing that we need to consider is quality of life. Is it worth it to put Isabella through several cycles of chemo for a few extra weeks or months? Some parents on the support groups when faced with this decision decide to forego any further treatment so that their child can spend their last days happy and not sick and vomiting. Others want to try everything knowing they may regret leaving an option untried that may have helped their child. We’ll need to weigh our options soon and make the hardest decision we’ve ever had to make.
If anyone out there is holding onto a miracle, now would be a good time to use it.
