hi LuAn!
i saw your response to my post on Leo's condo and wanted to answer here. what the CSU folks told me was that the pituitary gland sits right on top of the roof of the mouth, directly on the floor of the skull. underneath the pituitary gland, between the skull and the gland, runs the optic chiasm. punkin's tumor was something 4ish, i don't remember the exact size, but good sized. when we were driving to CSU last September, we had taken our little one, anya, along too. in the bright light in the car, her eyes were shrunk to slits. his pupils were completely dilated. i realized then that they'd been that way for at least a month. i hadn't really picked up on it, other than thinking his eyes were so gigantic & beautiful. it didn't dawn on me that it was all pupil i had been seeing. but when i looked at anya's in the bright light, i realized punkin's pupils were blown open and didn't retract at all. the CSU folks said the tumor was pressing on his optic chiasm.
my understanding of the SRT is that the radiation doesn't shrink or kill the tumor. the way it works is to cause the tumor cells to not be able to reproduce. that's why it can take so long to see results. the current cells live out their lifespan, they just can't replace themselves. but we started to see punkin's pupils retract slightly within a short time, maybe a couple of weeks, after the SRT. just slightly, but they did. then i noticed that the middle of the day after he'd been sleeping on his back (ie, head was upside down) the pupils retracted even more. it comes and goes, but now, most of the time, his pupils are not blown open, they retract appropriately except at this point, they never close down to completely slits like anya's. the amount they remain open is probably 1/4" or less.
i LOVED the old town part of Ft Collins - it was just charming! if you're a beer drinker, there is a major brewery there that gave tours - i'm sorry i don't recall the name of it. i don't like beer, so DH did the tour while i went shopping elsewhere. he enjoyed it. i'm thinking tracy likes beer, so she might enjoy it.
of course we love tracy & leo! they've been here for more than a year and supported everyone along the way, including punkin & me when he had his SRT - we've heard many stories of leo and his mouse-hunting (and then eating poor mousie from his dish inside the house!), his love for his grandpa, and all of that. we love you too, LuAn, and we're getting to know grayson! once you're part of the LL family, you're always part.
So glad that you have been able to do this for grayson - i don't think you'll be sorry. even though punkin is still acro, still getting plenty of insulin, still having to be tested ad nauseum, i haven't regretted it for one minute. he's lost many of the acro symptoms, so i suppose the growth hormone has decreased even though the IGF had increased last time we checked it (281 at diagnosis june 2011, 304 in april 2012). he's big, but he's also maine coon and he's quite fluffy. his tongue is pretty much cat-sized again, his signs of mega-colon have disappeared, the stridor is gone, his pupils retract, his voice has lost some of the gravelly quality. the endless hunger has also abated. unfortunately, i don't think the arthritis that acro causes has gone away. he absolutely doesn't want to be held - except at the vet's and perhaps for 5 minutes every couple of weeks. he used to be a lap fungus, so that was a major change. overall, though, i am thrilled with the results of the SRT, even if he never goes OTJ.
gosh, i've written a book. sorry bout that! punkin's been the only one that's done the SRT from LL since we've been on, so there hasn't really been anyone else to compare notes with. susan & lanky had done it a year or so before us, but they had pretty much stopped posting by the time punkin had his done. hope i'm not making you crazy! :lol:
We are wishing you all the best!!!
