Meeting with Dr Gailloud

We met with Dr Gailloud yesterday afternoon. He is the doctor who will perform the angiogram on Amanda on Wednesday. Has performs this procedure 5 times per day, 1000 times per year, and has performed it on 350 children, including a 1 week old child yesterday. I think we are in good hands.

He told us that the aneurysm is present on her MRI scans all the way back to 2006, so it appears to be stable. We only found out about it in her latest MRI (2 weeks ago) but upon closer evaluation, it is present much earlier. He had several of his Hopkins colleagues look at all the MRIs as well and they could all see it in all the scans and felt it had not changed significantly from 2006. Their best theory is that it probably occurred in conjunction with her surgery in 2005.

She needs the angiogram so that they can see the shape and characteristics of the aneurysm in more detail. They will do a 3 dimensional CT combined with the angiogram so that they can understand exactly what it looks like and assess what needs to be done. He indicated that there was a decent chance that they will choose just to follow it closely every 6 months if it appears as stable from the inside as it does from the outside. The alternative is surgery but the risks of surgery may be higher than the risks of watching it, especially if it is stable and shaped in a way that corresponds to lower risks of rupture. It is nice to finally be getting some good news again. We meet with more doctors early next week, so we will keep you posted.

Today was graduation at the prison for the dogs COLT, ELLIE, and NIKKI. We were sad not to be able to attend but we are glad we are getting Amanda the care she needs. My aunt and uncle attended, as did our good friend Carol Sullivan. We are so happy that Grace and COLT are finally together and we are excited that Amanda and ELLIE will soon be together. Have a blessed day and thanks for the love, support and prayers.

Susan