Update on Olivia

September 28, 2013 - First snow of the season

While on our family vacation, I received a call from Olivia's doctor. The National Cancer Institute data had come back, which tells us Olivia's tumor had a 16% increase in volume from the Feb. 2013 MRI (measurement of 19.2 mm) to the July 2013 MRI (22.3 mm). It is considered a minimally growing tumor.

Dr. V. talked about several up-coming chemo studies and suggested we may want to meet with the oncology team, however, he said (and we've experienced this in the past) that oncology usually feels the need to act and start treatment. So, for now, we are not going to meet with them.

Olivia will have another MRI in January, the scan will be sent to NCIS for more detailed measurements compared to this year's scans, and we'll see what the results are at that time. 

Olivia's tumor does cause her some pain in her left ear - when she is bumped, when I'm doing her hair or giving her face a much-needed, thorough washing. However, when we returned from our family vacation, she was in constant pain for 3 days (Sunday evening to Tuesday morning), her ear was red and swollen, and she said it was the outside part of her ear was hurting. We hoped it was an infection and not progression of the tumor. Thankfully, after a doctor's exam, which included flushing tons of ear wax out of her ear -seriously, there was so much it was ridiculous and nasty, we learned it was swimmer's ear. Thanks to antibiotic ear drops, the infection has now cleared up, the swelling has gone down, and she's back to racing around. :) 

We're so grateful for everyone's love & prayers!