SCOTT IS DISCHARGED WITH AN UNCERTAIN DIAGNOSIS

I remember calling my brother Bill for his thoughts.  After all, he was the Chief of Radiology at the Danbury Hospital and had been well trained in his field at NY-Cornell, a teaching hospital.  His comments given with great reluctance since he didn't want to interfere with Dr. Gold's care and treatment of Scott, was that he was troubled by the fact that four different neuropathologists hadn't agreed on a definite diagnosis.  What troubled him most of all was the fact that the neuropathologist who was most certain that the tissue was malignant tumor tissue had interned with Bill at Montefiore Hospital in the Bronx and Bill said that he was very smart.  I mentioned Bill's concerns to Dr. Gold and as he did many times during Scott's long illness, he picked up the telephone and called Bill and they had a long professional discussion about the next move.  Soon a consensus was reached and it was decided that on the chance however slight that the tissue might in fact be self limiting inflammatory tissue, the radiotherapy would be postponed, Scott would be discharged from the hospital and allowed to go home.  He would slowly be weaned from the Decadron and we would watch him closely.  If he didn't get sick again, then we could gleefully conclude that the tissue was inflammatory tissue after all.  On the other hand, if the symptoms returned, then it would be highly likely that the issue was malignant tumor tissue which had simply continue to multiply, causing further obstruction and intercranial pressure.  

With this uncertainty hanging over our heads, much tension was in the air but at least there was hope that maybe Scott wouldn't get sick again.  Rena was content for the moment that radiotherapy wasn't imminent and Scott was happy to be going home.  We hadn't told him about the pathology reports or about radiotherapy.  After all, he was only four years old.

 At home, there was some headaches and throwing up but not frequent enough to send us into despair.  After all, don't even normal children have headaches and throw up for reasons having nothing to do with tumor disease?  One day, on June 8, 1977, we were particularly concerned however and called Dr. Gold's office to make an appointment for Scott to be seen.  I was told that Dr. Gold was unavailable but that if it was an emergency, Scott could be seen by a covering Doctor.  Upon further inquiry, I discovered that Dr. Gold was downtown in Manhattan testifying before State Supreme Court Justice Kirschenbaum and a jury in a NYS Supreme Court case.  To make a long story short, within the hour, after sending us a cryptic message "Lets hope that its a virus," Dr. Gold examined Scott on a table in the jury room in Room 335, Manhattan Supreme Court and upon opining that his eyes were clear, there was no "papilledema" and accordingly no sign of increased intercranial pressure, we all adjourned to a nearby chinese restaurant for a sumptuous lunch.