Small sighs of relief.

We started out early today, super early. We left the house at 6:45 and got to Stanford about an hour later. First thing we had to do was a C.T. scan to check Ashton's brain at the surgery site
and for swelling. This time around Ashton wasn't too thrilled about it so they let me lay on the table with him....whatever works, right? Afterwards, we had breakfast and then had a huge break between appointments so we strolled Ashton around the hospital, showing him things he hadn't seen before. They have
this great train for kids to play with right outside of the Center for Cancer and Blood diseases. Every time I would walk by that train, when Ashton was up in a hospital bed, I wished he could see it. We checked that out for a bit, saw a friend I made during our stay, and just walked the halls. Then it was time for the oncology appt. Ashton has the best team of Dr's, I feel so lucky.
His dr. let us know that she had viewed his C.T. scan from earlier. She said it looked wonderful, that if you didn't know he had just had brain surgery, you really wouldn't be able to tell. That made me feel so great! The last appointment we had was with Dr. Edwards, the neuro-surgeon.
His nurse clipped some of Ashton's stitches because they were a bit tight and hadn't disolved yet. He did fine with that, was a little scared but held still for her. Dr. Edwards told us that we didn't need to worry about his brain swelling anymore. At first, it was something to be concerned about, but the C.T. showed his brain is healing and has no sign of pressure. HOORAY!! That was one of my big fears.....so that is one of my small sighs of relief. The other good news is he noticed Ashton's speech was really good. He said that means he should regain his balance rather quickly. Your speech and balance are controlled by the same part of the brain, so that was wonderful to hear....I can't wait for him to walk! He did say that one of the last things to get better would be his face droop. That is due to the fact that the tumor was growing right on that part of the brain. Thats ok...I can deal with that. My final small sigh is his incision is healed, he can have a bath, he shouldn't be laying in bed all day, and he wants him to get out, be around friends and get motivated and stimulated! Yippee! His next appointments are Wednesday. He has another Oncology appointment then later he has an appointment with the dr. who will be giving him his radiation. For now though, he is just chugging right along, making progress and moving forward everyday. Go Ashton, we love you buddy!!!!