The three month MRI

When Rilley was first diagnosed with his meningioma I remember saying that when I first laid eyes on the MRI display, without a word said, even I knew that he had a tumour.  It was that predominant in the scan.  That was on September 10, 2010.  It was a Friday and we will never forget that day.

Then, less than two months later Rilley had another MRI immediately after his craniotomy.  The amazing thing with this one had been that his brain had already begun to relax and reclaim the space where the invader had once been.

Rilley patiently waiting for his 3 month MRI.

Last Friday, exactly three months since his life saving surgery Dr. Pluhar did the first of three follow up MRIs.  As we had reported in our last post, through the miracle of Dr. Ohlfest's vaccine, there weren't any signs of the tumour.

Below is a composite image comparing the same area of the brain.  Obviously, I am not a diagnostic imaging specialist, so hopefully I was able to pull roughly the same MRI slice for each image.  Regardless, I think you'll get the idea.

Comparing Rilley's 3 MRIs.  Click to enlarge the image.

In the image on the left you can clearly see the meningioma.  If you look closely at the image in the centre, you will notice a small black hole.  This scan was taken immediately after surgery and you can see that the brain had already begun to fill back in as the hole is much smaller than the tumour was.  Finally on the right is the newest scan and it shows a healthy brain that completely fills the brain cavity again.

Not only is this good news for Rilley, but it proves that this new form of treatment is indeed working.

On the blood work front, there seems to be a consensus that the elevated levels were most likely a result of the stress that the travel had put on Rilley.  He is a very sensitive and high strung dog, so this seems to make sense to us.  Rilley was, after all, on Prozac to help him deal with separation anxiety while I was away at the Vancouver games this time last year.