“He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
Will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust.” — Psalm 91:1-2
Chase went into his surgery this morning at about 7:45, and the surgery went quickly and well. The surgeon, Dr. Alden, was able to remove all of the tumor that we’d seen on the MRI last night.
However, the initial results of the pathology that was sent in during his surgery showed that the tumor is malignant, which means that it’s an aggressive tumor which gets bigger quicker than a benign tumor, and may spread more quickly. Also, Dr. Alden saw several smaller (“spore-like”) tumors in the sub-arachnoid space of the brain.
Since the pathology report showed that the tumor is malignant, the doctors are also now more concerned about some gray coloring that they’d seen on the MRI on Chase’s spine. They think that the tumor may have spread down into his spinal column.
So, where do we go from here? That’s the big question that’s been on Ellie and my mind.
Well, the next step is the full pathology report. The full report will tell the doctors exactly what kind of tumor it is (there are a bunch of types of malignant tumors), which will tell them how aggressive the tumor is, and what kind of treatment is needed.
What is for certain is that Chase will need to do some kind of chemotherapy for the next four or so months, and then he will probably need to do radiation therapy. This may continue for some time, depending on the type of cancer it is.
This is going to be a long process for Chase. We appreciate all of the prayers for us and for Chase, and all of the phone calls, texts, Facebook messages, and tweets that people have been showering on us. We are so grateful for all of our family and friends that have been so encouraging to us in every way.
