unsettling phone call

Yesterday afternoon I received a call from Dr. Avery - Zoe's neuro-opthamologist... his news really caught me off guard.  Earlier in the day, Dr. Avery was looking again at the images of Zoe's optic nerve as well as the MRI scans.  He noticed that the optic nerve of the left eye (good eye) is more pale than it used to be. 
(A pale optic nerve = no life... No life in the optic nerve = no vision).  However, this is somewhat perplexing because Zoe's measured vision is 20/25 - it appears that she can see really well out of her left eye. 

Zoe is involved in a study conducted by Dr. Avery and Dr. Liu, the neuro-opthamologist she saw in Philly.  So, yesterday Dr. Avery sent the images to Dr. Liu, not mentioning his concern about the left optic nerve.  Independently, Dr. Liu had the same concern.  At that point, several others were drawn into the discussion to see if they could figure out what is going on.  Thankfully, it does not look like the tumor is involved in causing issues with Zoe's left optic nerve.  The other idea is perhaps there are neurotoxicity issues with the Vincristine.  However, the doctors all feel that it is too soon in the treatment course for this to be happening.  In my mind, this seems like the only likely factor if the tumor is being ruled out.  Zoe has already had "uncommon" side effects from Vincristine, so it wouldn't surprise me if she was experiencing Vincristine neurotoxicity even if it is considered to be too soon. The plan, as of now, is to continue treatment as expected and then do thorough imaging and vision tests in May and again in July. 

This weekend, Sean and I are trying to gather our thoughts and come up with questions to ask on Monday.  This news just made us sick... Zoe has one eye to work with - we can't take any risks with her good eye.  We may need to explore other treatment protocols - meaning other chemotherapy drugs.  It's a tough call because the current drug combo seems to be effective in treating the tumor, but we certainly have to go a different direction if this treatment is harming her other eye.  AAAHHHH!!  Thank heaven for a great team of doctors who are concerned and trying to help us make a good decision.