A cockatoo called Horse

Today The Boy had the follow-up scan to see what has happened since the last one. We arrived at Oncology Outpatients (OOPs) around 12:25pm to have his cannula placed, where it was so busy that it was finally done just before 2pm. His scan was due at 2pm, but Medical Imaging (MID) were also a bit behind time, so it was OK (I also asked OOPs to phone them when we were still waiting so they would know where we were). The scan itself went smoothly, with The Boy being a perfect statue, even during the longer than usual scan - this time it was head and spine (instead of just head).

The Registrar arrived promptly, and tried really hard to get the temperamental programmer to work, but eventually gave up and requested an x-ray to check it instead. Unfortunately, the MRI had changed the setting significantly (from 70 to 30!!!) and she had to bring another programmer back to reset it. This one worked first time.

After the long wait for the oncologist, he showed us the scans. The ventricles are slightly smaller, which is good, and the cysts (yes, cysts, it’s not just one) have done something interesting too. The top one is slightly smaller, while the back one is slightly larger. It’s difficult to tell if they really are separate cysts, or if one big cyst is just being pushed in different directions, but the total volume appears unchanged since last time. The oncologist insists we’re still just buying time with the valve adjustment, but the shunt seems to be working.

Now we just wait to hear from the neurosurgeon.