Potentially life-changing bad news....

[Halfbaked]

Keep a positive attitude about all this and lean on the comforts of your family. Do what ever needs doing and don't short cut anything. Happy that you felt close enough to us to tell us.

[CR33G3R]

Sorry to hear of your bad news.
Best of luck...

[MyUncleMo]

Best wishes from our family. Get that vacation time in with your girl and allow her to indulge herself.

[Fastill]

Praying for you, for all to turn out well in your young family.

[aquavita]

Shine - Like expressed in the PM - god bless.

You are quite the MAN to stand up and be counted when the chips are down. I know some that would have cut and run.

Again - bless you and your family.

[moosemilk]

Shine, I see everybody here much like a family, and you and SOH are being thought of as I would for family. Keeping you all in my prayers. Stay positive my friend and just enjoy every moment you all have together.

[heartcut]

Hope everything turns out well. We'll be thinking of you and yours.
We have 2 cancer survivors in the family, both doing good now.

[ShineRunnah]

Thanks to all of you. The friendship and caring atmosphere here at HD is amazing. I appreciate all of you.

It's very helpful to have your support. Even though we may all live in different states or countries, your support hits home like you were sitting beside me.

We haven't told many people of this situation, as we want to know more about what this means and what will happen before we alert our friends and family who have not yet been informed, as we hope to have more answers shortly that may make the news easier to accept.
As so few people know, we don't have many people to lean on for support. You all have really helped in that aspect, even more than I had imagined. It is most certainly appreciated, and we are both thankful.

My girl now knows why I enjoyed this forum so much, and she has been amazed at the caring and support you have shown us, and extends her most sincere thanks.

We've been doing a lot of research online about this, going through some of her books from her medical schooling and talking to some of the doctors where she works (a cancer care center), and while this is by no means a simple or small issue, it is far from hopeless. It was found very early, and that really makes a big difference in this case. We're still waiting to hear what the neurosurgeon has to say, but we're trying our best to remain as optimistic as possible.

Thanks to all of you. I will do my best to keep you informed, and hopefully with some promising news.

Take care and remember to show those you love how much they mean to you.

ShineRunnah

[rad14701]

ShineRunnah, you hang in there and give as much love and support as you can... Hoping there can be a good outcome for all... We're here...

[Steep-n-Rocky]

" Lord knows when the cold wind blows it will turn your head around." (James Taylor) ShineRunnah, you are in my thoughts. We had something like that a while ago and got through it stronger. Hope you do too!

[Coyote]

Shine you stated your not a praying man, but trying to figure it out, I beleive was how you stated it.

My friend - talk to God like you was talking to a friend, no fancy saying or rhymes
Just have a chat.

And late at night when you can't sleep, ask Him to take your load til morning, He will be up all night anyhow
watching over all of you.

May God bless you and hold you in th palm of His hand. You will be in my prayers

Coyote

[firewater69]

Well said, Coyote!

[Rng4]

+1 with coyote

[Truckinbutch]

Well said , Coyote .

[Cav Scout]

ShineRunnah,

Coyote said it best. So sorry to hear the bad news. Your being so supportive will make a big difference. Glad this was caught so early. Keeping you all in my thoughts and prayers. You're all gonna pull through this. Thanks for sharing and please keep us posted (as time allows) as she gets better.

God bless. Best wishes.

Cav Scout

[ShineRunnah]

Neurosurgeon tomorrow at noon. Staying positive, want to beat this and put it all behind us.

Thank you all for the kind thoughts, we greatly appreciate them.

I'm off to bed to try to sleep. I'll inform you all of any good news, hopefully it's what we will hear!

[Kegg_jam]

Good luck in the morning.

Thanks for the update.

Keep the faith brother.

[ShineRunnah]

Good News!!!

While at the neurosurgeon, we were reminded that my girl had an MRI of her head and neck last January, but without contrast dye like the more recent. The doctor brought them both up and started doing comparisons. And while barely visible, he found the tumor was present a year ago, but was missed, both due to lack of contrast dye and it wasn't what the doctors were looking for at the time.

How is this good? We now know the tumor has been there for at least a year without any signs of growth. No growth is a VERY good thing!

The tumor is smaller than we thought, being about the size of a pea, and is on the outer edge of her brain, meaning it is easily removable should it begin to grow or cause issue. The neurosurgeon assured us we can rest easy, as it poses no immediate threat and hasn't caused any issues related to it's presence, and it could actually quadruple in size while still remaining relatively harmless. He said he would prefer to leave it alone, as surgery at this point poses far more risk than any possible benefit.
The type of tumor she has is almost never cancerous, and he has seen patients live out their lives with such tumors without them ever posing any issues or needing to be removed.

All in all, it really put our minds at ease. We're not home-free yet, as this needs to be monitored for the foreseeable future. But an MRI every 6 months beats brain surgery or radiation treatment, and we can certainly live with that!
Her neck is still going to require some treatment, but not surgery, at least not yet. We also got some good news about that as well, and will be going forward with a type of nerve-blocker injection that has proven effective in many similar cases. Again, it sure beats surgery!

That said, I'm still going to take the rest of the winter to spend with them, and we are going to Jamaica in March to get married. Should be fun, and we're hoping to see the Appleton Rum distillery while we are there (still looking into that).

Thanks to all for your kinds words and thoughts, we do appreciate it very much. We're both relieved that this turned out to be a much smaller issue than we were initially led to believe. Radiologists should leave that stuff to the neurosurgeons so as to avoid creating unnecessary panic. But I'm not mad about it, just relieved to find out this isn't as horrible as it was made to sound initially.

Thanks again. You are all awesome people for sure!

[cranky]

See, all the good wishes from everybody here paid off. Glad it isn't as bad as it could have been.

[Danespirit]

I am glad on both of your behalfes that it turned out in a positive way.
Best whishes for you and your soon to be wife...i hope you will be happy for decades to come..
Jamaica...uh..they got some real good rum down there..

[yakattack]

Glad to hear it shine. It makes one put their priorities in order don't it just. Breathe a little easier tonight friend.

Now its not the same as in person but I propose a toast in light of the good news. This ones for you and yours shine.

*drink*

Now go be with your family and enjoy every minute of it.

[ben stiller]

Woo Hoo great news. But you should still take that vacation! Think I will have a drink for you tonight maybe two

[WhiteDevil504]

That's great news! Congrats!!!!

[Bigbob]

Great news Shine! The power of prayer is amazing.

[googe]

Awesome news mate!!, can't imagine going through that, you must feel like you've won the lotto now .

[MichiganCornhusker]

Happy for your news, Runnah. No potentially about it, your lives are changed. Let it be for the better!

[ShineRunnah]

Awesome news mate!!, can't imagine going through that, you must feel like you've won the lotto now .

It's better than the lottery, as I can't buy anything to replace her!

I will be joining you all and having a drink tonight. Celebration is in order!

It's been an emotional rollercoaster for sure. I'm just glad we've leveled off for the time being. Time to enjoy the ride for a bit!

[Rng4]

Yes that's awesome news. Prayer is powerful. Halfway thru a bottle of rum in your honors.

[Truckinbutch]

Hoisting a celebratory drink right now .

[woodshed]

Great to hear good news Runnah! Sending positive thoughts your way.