Picture Perfect Day

We received wonderful news this morning. Kelly's MRI is clear! Thanks for all the prayers for her - they really helped. Thanks for driving us up, Linda, I do better with moral support for MRI days. Kevin stayed home to get Megan and Shannon to school. We had a good morning, starting with an early MRI that went very smoothly. The new outpatient MRI center at the St. Joseph Pavillion is so nice with their new machines.

Then we walked over to the hospital across the street so we could meet with Dr. Muhonen to review her results. Kelly's fourth grade teacher, Clare Reding, takes one of her twin girls to see Dr. Muhonen too, so we had back to back appointments today. Kelly was very excited to have Clare and her girls with her at Dr. Muhonen's office. We all shared the turtle room. (I've posted pictures on here from that room in February - it is his biggest room, right beside the computer where the MRIs are viewed.) Dr. Muhonen took a look at Kelly's MRI, then called Kelly out to look at it. (I was not invited - this was just between him and Kelly) Kelly looked so happy when she came in, I didn't have to ask what the MRI looked like. She has been smiling ever since. I did get to see the MRI, and all of you get to see it too! I posted it below, which is our perfect picture! This is the best MRI she has had since her recurrence in October. No enhancement at all for the first time! As always, we know not to take this beautiful MRI for granted. Glioblastoma can recur (and almost always does) at any time. But at least for now, we are very happy and relieved. As Dr. Muhonen told me as we were leaving, "Just enjoy each day." She will have another MRI in 8 weeks. We all celebrated with lunch at In and Out, which is currently Kelly's favorite place for lunch. We will be at Claim Jumper tonight, Heather, for the Leukemia Lymphoma Society fundraiser. The celebration continues!

You can see the empty space in the lower right quarter of her brain, which is actually the left parietal occipital lobe. The empty black is the old tumor bed. There has always been a little bit of enhancement close to it, (the contrast that is injected through her port during the MRI highlights anything unusual that shouldn't be there.) It is our prayer that this picture stays just like this. Once again, thanks to everyone who has been so supportive to Kelly and all of us.