PHONE CALLS

We have been on pins and needles all day waiting to get the results from Taylor's MRI.  At about 3 pm MST we left the house to run some errands.  Apparently right after we let, the spine doctor called.  His message said he had Taylor in his office and wanted to go over the results with us.  It was about 4 pm when we got home and received the message.  We immediately called him back, but he did not answer.  We left a message and once again resumed waiting.

About 8 pm our time he called back.  He began the conversation by relaying the fact that when he had called earlier Taylor was in his office and he wanted to put the phone on speaker phone to give us the results.  The ever strict adherer to the rules "Taylor" told him he could not do that.  The doctor told Taylor he could just listen, not talk and Taylor still objected.  Although it would have been awesome to hear his voice, I love his conviction to obey the rules to the letter.  He is an amazing young man!  Through all of this, one of the hardest parts has been not being able to communicate with him.  We have had to rely on our communication with our Father in Heaven to see us through this.

We had an in-depth conversation with the doctor regarding Taylor's results.  The MRI showed it is NOT cancer!!! Hallelujah!  Apparently Taylor was born without the lowest disk in his spine.  Why no one has never noticed that before, we don't know.  The next disk up is trying to compensate for the lower one being gone.  However it is deteriorating due to the chemo and radiation treatments.   The doctor said Taylor will basically deal with this off and on for the rest of his life.  There will be times when it is totally fine and there will be times when it will take him down.  There is no indication of how often it will happen.

Next we discussed treatment options.  He said Taylor looked a little more comfortable today, but that it could take weeks to months for him to feel normal again.  The doctor does not want to push more steroids because of the side effects.  He is going to give Taylor two weeks to see how this hit of prednisone has worked.  If he does not see marked improvement he will do an in-office injection into the area and wait two weeks.  If he does not see improvement in two additional weeks, they will do an epidural injection into the site.

While it is GREAT news that it is not cancer, it is still very concerning and discouraging that there will be more waiting, hoping and praying that one of these treatments will restore his health.