I'm sorry for the delay on the update but thankfully Thursday before last, the 30th, Teagan had another clean scan! We got to drop another penny into our special scan jar my sister in law gave us. I dream of this jar getting so full someday that it overflows with pennies and clean scans! This would be my dream come true!
Thankfully Teagan's clear scan let us breath a sigh of relief after her previous scan was cancelled due to her puking the morning of her previous scheduled scan. Thankfully we are thinking that this puking may have been caused by some spinning we were having her do for eye exercises we were given as homework from her developmental optometrist or from car sickness from driving two hours everyday for daily intensive therapy services. Either way, thankfully the puking has stopped and most importantly she had a clean scan. Not only was this scan clean but it also is continuing to show signs up improvement in the areas of radiation necrosis.
Our NP at Seattle Children's was able to speak with the Radiologist who read the scan and they mentioned that they believe the previous hyperbaric oxygen treatment may be leading to these continued improved scans because this is not normal to see continued improvement this far post necrosis. This was good to hear as we were previously told there is no data to prove effectiveness of the hyperbaric oxygen treatment. Thankfully Teagain now is data for the effectiveness of hyperbaric oxygen therapy treatment working we believe:)
A lot has been changing as the season begins to turn. Teagan had her first day of preschool today and Judd had his first day of school last Wednesday! Judd and Teagan are at the same school and Teagan is very excited to be with the same teacher as last year! It was a little hard not being there with them to drop them off but Jeff sent me lots of pictures!
I also just started back to work after almost two years off since Teagan was diagnosed and thankfully I am surrounded by an amazing team and am at a great new school. I am noticing such a difference from the high school level to the middle school level but I feel like this change was a move in the right direction. It is interesting to watch the new me consistently bump into the old me. It often feels like I'm watching from afar as I observe the lack of connectedness between the two at times. It is hard to describe as I can say the last two years has provided a huge shift in the way I think and view things. It's unique as one is not better than the other. Instead, it just feels like my perspective is very different.
Judd is halfway through his hockey tryouts as we speak. I've got a lot to learn about this sport they call hockey:) It's seems a little intense, just sayin', but Judd seems to be really enjoying it so I'll take his lead. Teagan's sport at 3 years old is therapies. We have her in physical therapy twice a week, occupational therapy once a week, speech therapy once a week, we see her developmental optometrist once every four weeks for homework exercises, and we also have her trying neurofeedback for her brain twice a week. With the brain, we must do everything within our reach to help her brain continue to heal and the window of neuroplasticity is greatest now. Jeff and I are not willing to try and cut corners when it comes to this so we continue to juggle and make the best of our situation. Thankfully our incredibly generous family and friends help us out so that we can continue to get Judd to his activities in order to get Teagan to all her therapies and so far in the first few weeks we have been able to juggle it all. We are hoping this relentless approach rubs off on Teagan and so far it has. On Wednesdays she powers through 3 hours straight of therapy. This was the only way we can do this with both of us working and fit it all in. We are so thankful for Teagan's continual improvements and strength gains!
Next week Teagan has a 4 hour neuropsychological evaluation to gather baseline data. The following week we will get the results. I am trying ahead of time to not put too much weight on these results as I continue to believe in hope and and the amazing neuroplasticity of her brain at this age.
We are hopeful for an uneventful fall and winter. Teagan's next scan is scheduled for November 16th. We are looking into whether we will combine this scan with an eye surgery in an effort to try and get her eye straightened out. Time will tell and as long as we are home and the kids are enjoying their new friends in school, life is good.
Wishing you all a great back to school time and hope you are all doing well! I love it when my updates are short as that always means less medical stuff going on! Cheers to that!