As our family ‘friend’ and favorite musician Michael Franti says, It’s A Good Day For A Good Day! 

Suzanne had another cervical spine MRI and brain scan on Tuesday the 14th. We met with Dr. Kiefer on Wednesday and he confirmed that the spot at her C3/C4 has not grown and in fact appears to be slightly smaller.  Further confirmation that it is not the tumor they initially suspected.  That was really good news.  

Today we met with Dr. Winkly and he concurred with Kiefer’s assessment and also confirmed there are no other lesions elsewhere in her spine or on her brain.  We really loved hearing that. 

Basically, the diagnosis is Transverse Myelitis, CIS (Clinically Isolated Syndrome).  TM is an inflammation of both sides of one section of the spinal cord, caused by the lesion.  Dr. Winkly called it a monophasic event, meaning there’s been just one occurrence of inflammation or demyelination where the immune system attacks the myelin sheath that protects nerve fibers where the lesion was found.  It is possible additional lesions will appear later on down the road, but we hope and pray that they don’t and for now we celebrate the fact that this is the only one we have to deal with. 

The lesion is basically like a scar inside her spinal cord that could take 12-18 months to resolve completely, but it’s very likely she’ll have it for the rest of her life.  Only time will tell.  It also means she will continue to have symptoms if it does not fully resolve.  Thankfully the medication she’s taking for the symptoms is working and it’s safe to take for many, many years.  It’s basically an anti-seizure medicine that patients with epilepsy take, many of them for decades. 

So, we stay the course with the medications to manage the symptoms and as long as they don’t get worse she will not need additional scans for 3-6 months.  As wonderful as these doctors have been to us, the thought of going 3-6 months without having to see them is quite appealing to us, Suzanne especially. 

We are so thankful for today’s news and are incredibly grateful for the prayers, love and support we continue to receive from so many. It truly means the world to Suzanne and to our entire family. Thank you!