In Houston

Layne, Sally & Steve

Me, Sally & Steve

We arrived in the Houston area tonight courtesy of Layne's mom, Sally. She's a private pilot who lives in Sugar Land. She flew to Dallas this morning, spent the day with her grandkids and flew us here this evening. What a fun way to start our adventure! Steve sat in the co-pilot's seat while Sally expertly piloted us, even through some cloudy, rainy spots.

Jim (Steve's brother, who also lives in the Houston area) met us at the Sugar Land airport, took us to dinner and delivered us to Jayshree and Sanjay's house in Houston. Jayshree is one of my dear friends from high school and was in our wedding. She'll drive us to M.D. Anderson in the morning, where Jim will meet us for Steve's first appointment.

Tomorrow we meet with a neuro-oncologist. Wednesday we meet with a neurosurgeon.

Today we met with Dr. D, the first neurosurgeon we consulted. We were looking for a second opinion on waiting for a biopsy. Dr. D explained that the risks of the biopsy are great. (The needle is inserted somewhere at the top of the head and is then guided deep into the brain. Removing a tissue sample in such a remote area is doable but dangerous.) There's a chance that an MRI in three weeks will show the lesion is smaller. If so, that indicates it's not a tumor. And by waiting, Steve possibly avoids the biopsy altogether.

If it is a tumor, waiting a few weeks won't make much of a difference, Dr. D says, because there aren't many treatment options for a glioma in the brain stem. It was brutal news, and I think we're both still in shock.

We are now even more anxious of the oncology appointment Tuesday. We're full of hope that if the tumor is a lesion, M.D. Anderson will have some possible options for treatment.

Aunt Ami is back at the house, taking wonderful care of Cooper and Katie.