Next steps…

We met with Dr. Curry this afternoon and they have come up with a plan for the rest of Victoria’s treatment. As of now, Dr. Curry does not believe a spinal fusion will be necessary and gave Victoria the okay to stop wearing her neck brace.

In about three weeks, Dr. Curry and Dr. Holbrook will go back in through Victoria’s nose to do an endoscopic exploration to determine whether or not certain spots on the post-op MRI are parts of the tumor or not. It’s too unclear from the MRI and they don’t want to take any chances. Since Dr. Curry removed the majority of the tumor in the first surgery, that newly opened space allowed for the remaining portion of tumor to slide over a bit, which may now allow him to reach and get rid of what’s left during the endoscopic exploration.

If he still can’t reach it through her nose, he’ll go in through the back of her skull and take out the rest.

At that point, there should only be microscopic cells left and Victoria can then begin her proton therapy treatment about 4 weeks after she has the next surgery.

We were hoping to be able to go home for a few weeks before that time, but Dr. Holbrook said Victoria cannot fly for 4-6 weeks so we’ll be here enjoying beautiful Boston.

Today was the first time Victoria got emotional during any of the appointments we’ve had so far. I don’t think she expected to need a second surgery or that she would have to spend more time in the hospital. She misses home, her friends, and our dog a lot.

I think she also did the timing of everything in her head and realized she won’t be able to start back to school until October. If you know Victoria, you know how much she loves school, but she realizes why it’s necessary to remove all of the tumor and is adjusting to it.

Our younger daughter, Wren, is flying up here next week and we are so excited to see her! She loves all things history-related so she is going to love walking around and seeing all of the historical landmarks she’s been reading about for years.

Thank you for your continued prayers! Maybe we’ll be able to show some fun things we’re doing in Boston now that Victoria needs to be ambulatory as much as possible. Feel free to comment on Instagram or leave a message on this page if you’ve got any must-do’s for us in Boston!

Oh….and go Celtics!!! We became very fast fans!

Xo,

Paige, Travis, Victoria, and Wren