We've got a plan

Later this afternoon Dr. Lavine stopped by Ben's hospital room to talk with us again. He said that he had been talking to Dr. Lang about the case and they began to take a closer look at Ben's films (MRI, CT scans etc.) As they looked closer they could see that there were other changes happening in the brain caused by the tumor. This proved to them that the cancer had infiltrated many areas of the brain. Because of this Dr. Lavine decided that he would not go ahead with a surgery for Ben. He felt like the risks outweighed the benefits. He said that it would be better for the tumor to take away Ben's mobility and speech gradually than for him to take it away suddenly with an operation. He felt extremely bad but knew that this was the best decision for Ben. He said that instead he thought the best course of action would be radiation and chemo. Dr. Groves the oncology doctor then stopped by to talk to us about what we could expect. It looks like Ben will be recieving six weeks of radiation here in Texas at MD Anderson along with an oral chemo drug. After the six weeks there will be a three week respite from treatment and then he will continue on the oral chemo drug for as long as needed. Tomorrow Ben will go in for a simulation where he will get a CT scan for radiation and they will make a mask that he will wear during radiation. As scary as all of this is it is nice to finally have a plan and feel like we are moving closer to fighting this cancer. As we know more we will let you all know.