8 turned to 12 spots in brain

Today we heard Liz will wait until tomorrow to begin the SRS treatment, partly because Friday's MRI showed 12 brain lesions where before (5/5) there were 8. It makes the planning more complicated. She will begin Tuesday at 11:45 and go again on Wed at noon. Both times they hope to treat 6 spots, taking about 90-120 minutes each day. Dr. Tward and the nurses want to be sure she can lie on her back for that long comfortably. She took 90 mg of morphine sulfate on Saturday (instead of 60) morning and night, but went back to normal on Sunday. She also took some oxy to keep it manageable. Today at 3 she hadn't taken any oxy yet. She did say the numbness had spread around her calf a little more today (not what we hoped).

We focus on what we can do. We can get treatment for 12 spots instead of only 8 we knew about before. We can get radiation done and then begin BRAF drug again after some time off.

We also got a reminder call about an appointment she had for tomorrow to get the rest of her squamous cell carcinoma removed from her jawline. It turns out they need her for 2-6 hours, so we said not tomorrow. We need to do the SRS and will get this in two weeks on June 8th. It may take that long because they remove only thin slices of skin at a time, check for the cancer, then go back for more if they see it still there. I had thought it was a one time deep spot removal. I suppose I should have asked questions long ago when we set up the appointment.

Today Nell helped Liz clean much of her room. It looks amazing! Liz said she mostly supervised and made decisions. :) I was gone for a while to remove my personal things from school, and tell them I don't know when/if I will be back. It is more important for me to be available for Liz, and the ladies I worked with all understand that. I appreciated their hugs and concern.