Momma Update

I just wanted to give a little update on my mom. She ended up NOT having the Gamma Knife surgery yesterday. Apparently, you have to jump through a bunch of hoops before you get to that point. But they (my mom, dad and Omi - mom's mom) did go see a neurologist at the University of Chicago yesterday. He wanted to try some other options before doing the GKRS.

First, they're going to try some new medications. The first one is apparently the drug that is most commonly used to treat trigeminal neuralgia (TN). She's never been put on it before, so they figured they'd try it out for a couple weeks. When she first was getting the jaw pains, they weren't sure what it was, so they tried other ways to treat it and for whatever reason, they've just never tried this one. So, if after a couple weeks, she's still not getting any relief, they're going to try another drug, which was originally used in a drug study to treat MS. The doctor that did this trial found that while the drug didn't actually help with any of the MS symptoms, it did seem to help MS patients who have TN.

If neither of these medications give her any relief, they'll look into a couple other 'non-invasive' treatment options, similar to the GKRS. I'm waiting for my dad to text me with what these two things are called so I can google them...I'll get back to ya on that.

And if those aren't successful, then they'll look into actually doing the GKRS. Apparently, there are not any doctors at the U of C who've actually used this as a solution to TN, so they'd have to go to another hospital on the northside, if that's the route they end up taking. Hopefully, one of these medications will give her some relief.

On the upside of things, this trip to the U of C was Mom's first venture out of the house in close to two years. Dad said that she held up pretty well. I'm sure it was nice to get out of the house for a little while - to feel the fresh air on her face and to see sights other than her bedroom and the kitchen. I can't imagine how trapped she must feel. I mean, I love being at home as much as the next person, but 2 years? Yuck. I start getting cabin fever after a few days of just sitting around at home.

Anyway, that's the update. I will keep you all posted.

And thanks for your positive energy being sent her way...Every little bit helps. :-)