Ingram the Conqueror: Thursday July 25th, MRI and Spinal Tap Results

The whole crew went to SJ for our big appointment and we even made it early...which hardly ever happens!! When we walked in the doors, we saw the Volunteens and all three of the kids went running straight towards them. Ingram, of course, had to go check in with Mrs. Gloria, get his arm band, and have his daily chat with Mrs. Penny before he could go play with the girls and the Volunteens. They got to color fish thingies, make bracelets, and play games with the Volunteens before we headed over for our appointment in E Clinic. I wasn't sure if all three of them would come with us to the clinic because they were having so much fun with the teens, and sure enough, Lindsey ran back while we were waiting in the clinic and played until the teens had to leave.

Our name got called and off we went like a row of ducklings to Room 4 to hear the results...Scans are clear!!! Dr. Gajjar explained all the findings of the MRI and spinal fluid and said that there was no clear sign of tumor in either the pictures or the fluid...and so now we breathe. The MRI did see Ingram's sinuses again and they noted that he had an infection in one of his sinus cavities but it wasn't as bad as the last scan. We'll see the ENT again to discuss that further, but Ingram's not symptomatic right now; we're just attributing it to our wonderful Memphis weather. After about another half hour of talking specifics and all the possible questions we could think of, we headed to the cafeteria for a celebration lunch of sorts.

After the kids finished their lunch, all three of them took off running back to where the Volunteens were and found another group had set up at the tables and they were...painting!!! You'd think today was like a jackpot of sorts for our kids with fun stuff before our appointment, good results in our appointment, and then more fun stuff after our appointment. I finally had to drag them out of SJ (totally normal occurrence) and we headed towards the house with a stop at the ice cream store, another totally normal occurrence of course!

So we spent the rest of the day thinking about the results and thanking God for keeping Ingram free of disease at this current moment. There's a sense of relief since he had been throwing up so much this past month, but the last month before scans is always an extra stressful time; it seems there is always something new worrying us that the tumor has returned. But God gives us comfort in different ways each time. Sometimes it's through the doctors' words. Sometimes it's through the words, actions, and prayers of our friends. Sometimes its through an indescribable peace that is beyond our understanding. We value all of these things greatly.

Now unto Him that is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, to Him be glory in the church by Jesus Christ to all generations, forever and ever. Amen! Ephesians 3:20-21