Our Day at USC.....

Hello Friends and Prayer Partners.

I am SO sorry for the late night update. We have been processing...

We met with Dr. Giannatta at USC today. Dr. Giannatta is a world renowned neurosurgeon and we were thrilled be seen by him. He is quite strong and opinionated and "confident" ;) .... and rightly so. He's supposed to be "the best."

Anyway, THANK YOU for praying. It was an honor to get his expertise and opinion on everything.

Here is what he thinks:

His opinion is that we can wait a bit on doing Radiation. He said the tumor is not pushing on the brain yet, so it's not at the dangerous size yet or causing damage. Since we are hoping Jon's facial nerve will restore, he thinks it's best not to do Radiation there, while we give it time to heal. (the tumor is wrapped around his facial nerve) He said even if the tumor grows a bit more, that's OK for now. If it reaches a size where it's pushing on the brain again, then we'll start Radiation or do a 2nd surgery. It's a very conservative approach, which we appreciate. It's of course also a little scary and confusing though, when our first neurosurgeon believes Jon should start radiation immediately. Don't you wish science was more black and white? :)

He also recommended Jon cancel his May 8th eye surgery. (The one where Jon was going to have his eye stitched partly closed) He recommended going to this world renowned specialist in LA who can do a different and better surgery. Of course this surgeon isn't covered by our insurance, but as Dr. Giannatta said to us in our appointment, "You screwed yourselves over when you signed up for an HMO, so here we are. You're paying cash to see me. And you'll pay cash to see him." (Did I mention he's quite strong, opinionated and "confident"?) ;)

We were able to ask a ton of questions and get his insights on a lot of different things. We are so grateful for that.
We end our day today feeling thankful, tired, and maybe a tad confused.

We have decided our next course of action will be to seek another 2nd (and hopefully last) opinion. Since each doctor had such a different course of action, the weight of just choosing one and 'hoping' it is the right one is just too great. We had been encouraged to get 2 or 3 opinions before taking action and we feel like that is the wise thing to do.

We also feel really good about canceling the May 8th surgery. Jon's eye has been a huge source of pain and I feel like we shouldn't settle for anything but the best when it comes to that issue. I think we will call the Dr he recommended for a consult.

Please continue to pray for us as we seek out more counsel.
Thank you for walking each portion of this journey alongside us. Each leg of this journey has been so tiring, yet you all have not wavered in your passion to pray, serve, and love us. Thank you so very much.

And now, after an emotionally draining day, I can literally hear my pillow calling me. ;)
Goodnight, dear friends.