Vinny Balistreri

Good morning everyone,  


This has all happened so fast.  It started with Vinny having some blurry vision and headaches, but has led to something very different.  I wanted  to give family and friends an update on Vinny.  After a long day at Kaiser,  the MRI showed an abnormality.  It was the news we were dreading.  Vinny has a brain tumor and has swelling around it.  This is putting pressure on the back of the brain and causing the double vision, headaches and nausea.  They repeated the MRI and he is going to need surgery.  We are waiting for our neurosurgeon to put his surgery team together and then we will know more about the surgery day and location.   We are still in total shock right now.  Never imagined this.  I am trying to stay strong for Vinny but can hardly talk out loud about it without breaking down, so I will keep in touch through this site at CaringBridge.  I will let you all know as soon as we have more detail as to the surgery info.   Doctor is taking him off IV meds this morning (to decrease the swelling around the tumor) and trying pill form.  If he does well on the oral meds, they will likely let him go home tonight. He is doing well, and we are trying to act normal and keep him in good spirits. He is just trying to process it all - tough for a kid to do.   Praying for positive outcome.  Please please pray - I am a strong believer in the power of prayer.   Sorry if I can't answer texts or emails - it's not because I'm not thinking of you all, just have so much to process it's overwhelming. I'm sure I've missed someone on my distribution list so please feel free to forward. Not up for visitors at this time, but we will let everyone know when that is.  So thankful for all of you.  Please please please pray.  Love, Monica & Tim