Subject: Lesley Update - 11/9

Lesley was released from the hospital today and I brought her home.  Her
stay was a bit of a roller coaster with ups and downs.  Her MRI came
back fine - the internal pressure has been relieved and there has been
no tumor growth.  She was successfully weaned off the Mannitol and is
continuing on a high dose of the steroid Decadron (16mg/day).  She has
significant external swelling on the inside of the horseshoe shaped
incision/stitches.  It is not infected, but it is causing Lesley quite a
bit of pain.  Most of the time she is uncomfortable and uses an ice pack
to help manage the pain.  Sometimes she barely has a headache and other
times she's counting the minutes until the next dose of Percocet.  She
is back on a pretty steady diet of Percocet.  The doctor says it may
take 2 weeks for the swelling to subside.  Complicating/helping matters
is a virtual cocktail of 6 medications (plus a multivitamin with iron)
that she takes, some of which may cause headaches.

Lesley is walking occasionally and doing quite well.  Her difficulty
with choosing the right words (aphasia) is worse than it was before the
operation and immediately after the operation, but the doctors think
that will improve.  Her strength is good on both her left and right
sides.

We have an appointment with the neuro-oncologist on Monday.  If
everything goes well, Lesley will start on the chemotherapy (Temodar)
right away.  The doc wants to be "aggressive."  She will also have her
stitches removed that day.

So it looks like we won't go out dancing in the near future, but the
family agrees that it's good to have Lesley home, even if she isn't
hitting on all 8 cylinders.

Dave
--
Dave Baldauf, h/o Lesley, gbm, dx/srg 8/99, rad 9/99, rad completed
10/99, debulk srg 10/99, probably starting Temodar 11/99
mailto:dbaldauf@ultranet.com