It is Becoming Apparent that We've Made the Right Decision

Over the last few days Rilley has been having more seizures.  While we've been doing our best to keep this blog relatively light hearted, we thought it best to mention that not everything is running along smoothly.  In the past few days he has had four seizures.  This brings his total to ten since Sara witnessed what we believe to be his first one back on August 10th.  Rilley still seems to tolerate them well and they definitely don't last as long as when he first started having them.  They are now averaging less than a minute in length compared to almost four minutes a month ago.  While this is a good indication that his medication is managing his condition, it does reinforce for us that we have made the right decision to proceed with his treatment at the University of Minnesota.

For those who aren't clear on what is going on in Minneapolis, the Ohlfest Brain Tumor Lab is conducting a clinical trial to study the viability of using a vaccine that is developed from the extracted tumour cells to aid in curing the cancer.  The vaccine is administered every two weeks after the surgery for a total of six doses.

Image courtesy of Ohlfest Brain Tumor Lab website (http://www.braintumorlab.com/)

The University has had very good success with this method of treatment and, while there are no guarantees, we are hoping for the same outcome for Rilley.

Daily Planet Update:

Just to bring you up to date on the Daily Planet story that is being produced about Rilley's involvement with the clinical trial, story producer Michelle McCree and D.O.P. (Directory of Photography, English translation: really skilled cameraman) Brian Marleau came to the house late yesterday afternoon.  We did the initial interview, giving Rilley's history, detailing how Sara found this unique opportunity and outlining our coming "adventure".  They also shot general footage around the neighbourhood of the kids playing with Rilley and of us taking him for a walk.

Daily Planet Producer Michelle McCree and Director of Photography Brian Marleau