At the beginning of March, Vincent noticed that his left eye would not close normally. Nothing to worry, really, since he had caught a tennis ball in his eye a few days before.
On March 4th, at the end of the day, Mom noticed that Vincent's mouth was crooked... weird..
On March 5th, the family leaves for the spring break: one week of skiing at "Le Valinouët", a ski resort near Chicoutimi, in the Saguenay region of Québec. On the way, while listening to his brother's i-Pod, Vincent realises that he cannot hear from his left ear... weird...
In Chicoutimi, Vincent has a go at snowboarding and exhausts himself. He spends the afternoon sleeping. His face slowly becomes more assymetrical. This is getting more and more worrying. We decide to look for a solution: off to the emergency room at the Chicoutimi hospital. Diagnosis: Bell's palsy, a benign problem that should resolve withing 1 month. Phew! It's not that bad. We'll have to follow up at Ste-Justine's hospital in Montreal when we come back from vacation.
The week following our return, Vincent and Mom spend a day at the ENT at Ste-Justine. The doctor doesn't like what he sees. Bell's palsy should not affect the ear. We go through hearing tests, a CT scan. At the end of the day, a new doctor walks in the examining room: an oncologist.
The oncologist talks of a tumor on the brain stem, MRI's, medicines... Cranial nerves V, VI, VII and VIII are affected.
Following the MRI, we meet a neuro-surgeon from Ste-Justine. He explains that, as opposed to the majority of brain stem tumors, Vincent's tumor can be operated on. (Good news??) It is therefore possible to get a piece of it for analysis. After thinking about it, we decide to go ahead with the operation.
Vincent is immediately put on Decadron, steroïdes with horrible side effects: loss of sleep, increased appetite, heartburn, swelling of face, joint pains, slowed wound healing,... and the list goes on and on...
The surgery is scheduled for April 5th 2007. However, Ste-Justine has administrative problems, and there are not enough nurses at the Intensive Care Unit to take care of Vincent after the operation. It is therefore delayed for one week.
On the morning of the operation, after an agonising wait, the neuro-surgeon who is late by 30 mins, comes to tell us that there is only 1 space available at the ICU , and Vincent will get it. So after a final MRI, the surgery will take place.
Therefore, on April 12th 2007, at 10:00AM, after hearbreaking goodbyes, Vincent leaves for the OR. Immediately after getting in the room, the anasthetist puts Vincent to sleep with gas. For the following 2 hours, nurses, technicians and OR personnel work to position Vincent for the operation. He will need to be lying on his stomach with his head tilted forward. Since the procedure is taking most of the day, Vincent has to be positionned properly to avoid causing any him any injuries. For the surgery, he will be intubated, have a urinary catheter, venal acceses, artherial pressure monitoring, electrodes for heart monitoring, and the back of his head will be shaved off completely. Dr Mercier, the neuro-surgeon, starts to operate at 12:00hre.
The longest day ... Judith, who has come for moral support, Mom and Dad wait. By 5:30PM, Dad goes to get some news. The doctor has started to close up, there is about 90mins left to the procedure.
As predicted, the doctor comes to get us at 7:00PM. Vincent is fine. He is now extubated, has opened his eyes. Everything went well. The doctor has managed to take out aboug 50% of the tumor. Preliminary report: Pilomyxoid astrocytoma. To be confirmed by the pathologist with more tests.
What a relief! Vincent is transferred to the ICU. Only Mom and Dad can see him. He is awake! He has trouble speaking, his mouth all pasty from the anasthetic gas. A true soldier!!! Doesn't complain. Mom pulls a chair, and starts a night of recovery. Vincent wakes up every now and then, Mom is close by, monitoring everything, making sure all is normal... if it's the only reason that Mom got her nursing degree, it was well worth the efforts...
Vincent impresses everyone in the ICU. The following morning, he starts to drink. Tubes are slowly coming out. There is no way he is going to urinate in that bottle...Off to the toilet he decides to go! And that's enough to convince everyone that, after 12 hres in the ICU (instead of the predicted 48hres) Vincent can move to his 5th floor private hospital room.
Again, Vincent impresses all the nurses. He is so strong, such determination, what a quick recovery. He is our best yet!!! Vincent is beaming with pride! After a week of recovery in the hospital, Vincent leaves to go home. Hurray! the whole family is reunited. Everyone is happy to be together, not to mention Vincent who will finally sleep in his own bed!!!
Starts the recovery periode at home. The neurological symptoms are not improving, even though Vincent is doing quite well. Two weeks after surgery, we meet with the neuro-surgeon. The same diagnosis: Pilomyxoid astrocytoma, an atypical benign tumor that has an unpredictable behavior. Regardless, its localtion stays a problem. Radiotherapy is recommended to shrink it as much as possible.
Options, which are few, are considered. Radiotherapy is very risky, with potential horrible side effects. However, the risks from tumor growth are worse. One month after the operation, a new MRI is done: the tumor has grown. We have no choice: radiotherapy starts on Wednesday 16th May 2007. There will be 30 sessions in all.
