Relief

We don't like to add unnecessarily to the sum of anxiety in the world.

So it's with both humility and gratitude that we confess our fears about brain tumours were unfounded.

I quote here from the email we received from our doctor on Friday night, summarising the scan results:

From the report and my untutored eye there is nothing on the scan to account for Isaac’s symptoms [i.e. head pain] – the report mentions a small area of scarring (gliosis) on the right side  but I am sure that this is not causing any pain - I will discuss the scans at the neuro-oncology MDT [multi-disciplinary team meeting] on Tuesday and get back to you if anyone has any further thoughts on the problem.

It's worth noting that although the doctor describes herself as "untutored" in interpreting MRI's, she does in fact have 30 years of experience in treating retinoblastoma. (She is a self-effacing but extremely competent consultant.)

Although not a specialist in neurooncology, she would surely recognise the kind of brain tumours that are most commonly associated with Rb if she saw them.

Further questions

Obviously there are questions that remain.

• What might have caused the scarring -- the gliosis -- that was mentioned in the MRI report? 

• If the scarring doesn't account for the head pain Asa's had, could it have other implications?

• And if there's nothing in the MRI to account for the head pain, what is then behind it?

These things we need more information on.

Focusing on the positive

The main thing to focus on for now is that the scan provides no evidence of brain tumours.

That, our greatest fear, is ruled out.

For now everything is cool