We have returned from Salt Lake with some great news, good news, and some news that we will wait 3 months for the actual results to be completely in the clear.
The great news is that from the neurosurgeons point of view, Matt is doing excellent. In his words, "He is doing far better than expected and exceeded all his expectations." We aren't quite sure how to take that, but we're ecstatic that he is doing so well. He was a little surprised to see Matt up and moving so much. He did ask him to continue to take it easy for awhile. He did take him down a dose on his seizure medication and he'll be off it completely in a week. They are also reducing the amount of steroids he takes over the next few weeks to be back down to the 5mg that he normally takes.
The good news is that from the eye specialist's exam his eye sight is even better than before he had the tumor...it's only good news because we have to return in 4-6 weeks for him to be tested for Pigment Dispersion Disorder. This is a precurser to glaucoma (I think) but won't affect him until he gets around 80. So, maybe they are just telling him that he's aging. This isn't that big of a deal just another "thing".
The news that we will wait for is from the endocronologist. Matt gave about 7 vials of blood between the two days and they are running tests which we won't get the results back till Monday. In one test, things looked good. They are still a bit concerned that his body might be in the state of Diabetes Insipidus. This is why he was in ICU for so long. He continues to drink about 300 ounces of liquid each day and therefore uses the restroom a lot. There are a total of 4 tests to look at for this. The 1st one was good, but the doc can't give a final answer till she reads them all. If his body is not in this state, then she said it's a behavior issue that will need to be mentally taken care of, like coming off of drugs and weaning himself off so much liquid intake. That sounds like fun!!! One small area of concern is his production of the hormone prolactin (I don't know if that's spelled right). His levels are elevated now and this is not a worry because it can still be from swelling around the brain stem. He will be tested again in 3 months and if his levels stay the same or go up, then he will need to have another MRI because that might indicate that there is still residual tissue left over and he might need surgery again. We are staying positive and will cross that bridge when we get to it. So, as of now, we wait for liver and blood tests to come back with some more information. The bottom picture is of his head and how it is healing, with which the surgeon was also very pleased.
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