Today' MRI and Previous MRI Pictures

Today marks the end of Travis' 15th 4-week rapamycin course and the end of course 15 MRI.  He continues to be a brave soul and takes the entire MRI process in stride.  He knows what to expect and chooses activities for him to do during the prep room waiting.  He informed me he would be playing Cars while I talked with the ladies (nurses).  He knows the nurses ask all kinds of questions concerning his medical history and mom answers them, why should he be bored during that time.  :)

I called ~4 weeks ago to schedule the MRI and the soonest they could schedule T was on Jan 12th.  The trial allows a small window for the MRI after the end of the course, so the research coordinator helped get Travis' MRI today.  They scheduled T's MRI for 3p, our only option.  This meant Travis could eat breakfast a little early and snack on clear liquids through the morning.  We kept him out of Pre-K today and went to our friend Gwen's house for Travis to play with her 2 boys.  Travis loves spending time with "the kid" and "baby", almost 4 and 18 months.  Thank you Gwen for your company for me and the boys for keeping T entertained and his mind off of food.

Radiology called this morning and said I could bring Travis in a little early.  Everything started ~30 minutes ahead of our scheduled time and Travis did great through the entire prep process.  Unfortunately it took 2 tries to get the IV started due to a faulty needle, poor kid.  He continues to amaze all with his bravery.  The scans lasted ~45 minutes, the usual.  He arrived in recovery around 4:30 and we left radiology shortly after 5p.  Friday we meet with his geneticist for the exam and Dr. Viskochil should receive the preliminary MRI reports from radiology.  The volumetric analysis usually takes several weeks to a month to receive the results.  That analysis provides the tumor volume and how that changes over the previous 12 weeks.

In all the typing on the blog and describing Travis' plexiform, the MRI images provide the best description of the extensiveness of his plexiform.  The 3 images below are from his MRI on Jul 21, 2011.  In all the images, the places where you see white on the right (his left) and not on the left of the pic is tumor.

T's pelvis/hip plexiform (the bright white near the top in the center is his spine and NOT tumor) - Jul 21, 2011

T's thigh - Jul 21, 2011

T's upper thigh cross-section - Jul 21, 2011

Thank you for your continued support for Travis and our family.