Just Plain Good News!

We arrived in Cincinnati Sunday evening after a generally uneventful ride. Thankfully, Aida travels well. We were up early Monday with her and out the door to see our doctor at 830.  I'm not sure what one level below giddy is, but the doctor was whatever that is! She was truly happy to see her and was pleased with how good she looked and so on. They checked her out, drew some labs to be sure she wouldn't need any products before surgery then sent us to check in. Of course, she couldn't eat for a really long time, so from about 9am she was either crying or (mercifully) sleeping. 
The surgeon, already behind schedule, came by to see her and to check out the lesion under her arm that had grown so much since they'd seen her. The plan was only to remove the one behind the head, but after seeing her, the surgeon wanted to take the other. Back at Vanderbilt when she almost had surgery before, there was concern about later some physical development as it was growing out and over towards her chest. The surgeon here didn't expect that to be a problem and, in fact, was quite concerned about the use of her arm if we left it. We didn't think it had been impaired so far, but the lesion seemed to still be growing. I had told Mark that morning that I thought it was growing every day. By the way, in recent weeks as this one grew substantially, the rest of the lesions seemed to remain pretty much the same. Score one for the unpredictability of these lesions. Anyway, in addition to issues with the arm, the doctor was concerned that continued growth would cause the damage to breast tissue we were originally concerned about. 
Part of the reason this surgeon felt so good about the surgery was that she'd done the biopsies 2 months before. Those lesions hadn't been entangled in nerves and whatnot, and she thought these felt the same, albeit much larger. Sounds like an easy choice up to here. We'd likely be avoiding developmental issues and hopefully further surgeries (reconstructive) at the cost of a scar. Unfortunately, there were the risks if the surgeon's expectations were not reality. We'd probably be risking damage to breast tissue either way so that was a wash. However, if the lesion WAS entangled, there could be nerve damage - potentially making a mess of her arm, hand and fingers. We had only a few minutes to talk and pray about it. 
As I write this now it sounds easy. The truth is, Mark was fine, but I was envisioning all the possibilities. In the end, we decide to do it...and we are thrilled. There was no breast tissue involved and nerves weren't entangled. The surgeon did see a nerve that had been stretched by the growing mass. There's no way to know now what, if any, damage may have been caused...but if it had continued to grow it would have been worse. It's my understanding that the nerve will shrink back to size. There could be some muscle weakness or numbness or something else or nothing at all. :) Again, only time will tell.  Also, it turns out that her arm movement WAS being impeded. We just didn't realize until she start playing after surgery. I just thought she favored her right arm and would be right handed. Ha! Her head movement has improved already as well. She definitely has pain - especially since it's impossible to move her without aggravating one of the wounds. Pain meds make it manageable, and she is otherwise very much herself...just a little lighter and more mobile!
And today we received MORE good news. First, we get to go home early tomorrow morning - yay! Second, her numbers are really good...improving even. Third - I know! There's more! - the bone lesions are stable and don't appear to be causing any damage. And finally...the giant, scary liver lesion is a tiny bit smaller. Not tons - but smaller. Our doctor said she wanted to jump up and down but didn't. :) As always, there are still unknowns so even with good news, we all tend to keep one foot on the ground...apparently figuratively AND literally. 
In other news, my maternity leave ended Monday, and I am now officially unemployed! So that's that! The only bad news for the week was that the cell phone I'd be assuming (to keep my number) can't be upgraded for almost a year! I've been mourning the loss of an iPhone I didn't even have yet. In the scheme of things, it's a small disappointment. Apologies if this update is a little jumbled or random. We're pretty exhausted, but I couldn't wait to share the good news with everyone! And on that note, I'm off to start packing for home. Woohoo!