Scripture Feeding

Thus says the Lord, "Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind and makes flesh his strength, and whose heart turns away from the Lord. For he will be like a bush in the desert and will not see when prosperity comes, but will live in stony wastes in the wilderness, a land of salt without inhabitant. Blessed is the man who trusts in the lord and who trust is the Lord. For he will be like a tree planted by the water, that extends its roots by a stream and will not fear when the heat comes; but its leaves will be green, and it will not be anxious in a year of drought nor cease to yield fruit. The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it? I the lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give to each man according to his ways, according to the results of his deeds.

Jeremiah 17:5-10 NASB








Friday, October 12, 2007

Cyber Knife? or Surgery?

Well the Palfery's flew out to Arizona last night and today met with Dr. Chris Smith at the Barrow's Institute. After looking at Felisa's MRI and doing short sensory and motor exam he is recommending surgery vs the Cyberknife.

The Cyber Knife and Surgery each have advantages and disadvantages. Surgery is risky because they poking around your spinal column. In Felisa's case the tumor is in a pretty assessable location and is very localized, which allows for a clean cut. The chance of the tumor growing back is less than 2%. They will have to remove a very small portion of Felisa's C7 vertebrae in order to get to the tumor. This could cause some long term stability problems with her neck, although unlikely, that can be fixed by fusing the vertebra T1 and C7 vertebrae together. Additionally the doc thinks the tumor is growing on a sensory nerve and not on a motor nerve based on Felisa's loss of feeling (and not motor function) in her arm. This makes the likely hood of losing motor function almost nil, but some risk of losing some sensory function still exists. The recovery time for surgery is a day or two in the hospital before she's back on her feet with limited activity. Then its about 6 to 12 weeks before the muscles completely heal. After that she will be up and about and exercise as long as the neck is not involved. She could have the surgery in two to three weeks from now if we choose this option.

The Cyber Knife is less invasive. But the tumor does not typically go away for a year or two, so the pain would remain for that time. Additionally there is still some risk of damaging the sensory nerve. The chance of regrowth is around 10% so yearly follow ups or scans are also required. This treatment will take 6 weeks or so before it can be performed due to the scans, body casts, etc.

For these reasons Dr. Smith is recommending surgery. Dr Smith is confident other doctors will agree with his assessment but is going to present Felisa's case at the weekly doctor's meeting as a double check. Dr Smith said both options are viable for removing the tumor and the decision is ultimately up to Felisa.

So...please pray for us as we prayerfully ask for the Lord's guidance. We hope to make a decision next week.
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