Hi!! So I’m back at Mass General Hospital for more surgery.  About a month ago surgeons installed a shunt in my brain to help reduce the pressure from the tumor during syllabus week.  Thinking I could stick out that week, especially with the snow days, I stayed in school. But, I was getting severe headaches and dropped out of UMD for another semester. Unfortunately, because of cancer treatment, the wound would not heal properly (even though it was absolutely necessary to undergo) and I developed meningitis.  Last Thursday the 28th my doctors read my MRI and saw the infection as well as the extra air that wasn’t supposed to be there. On that night they removed the shunt and I have been an inpatient at MGH ever since.  Doctors identified the bacteria that caused the infection, and have me on antibiotics but I am having the shunt back in. They have to clear out the infection and monitor me until Friday the 15th in MGH, where I will again receive the shunt surgery. The good news is even though my radiation caused my tumor to swell for some time (which is normal) the swelling has gone down and it is down to the size it was from October (when I was diagnosed). We are hopeful this will go down or not grow at all from chemotherapy, but are not sure because of the extreme rarity of this mutation and the new discovery of this gene. Within the next couple of months I will start a page to introduce Stanford University’s impact on this drug and how you all can help, but now I am focusing one day at a time.

Thanks,

Katie