Sporting a new fade (hair do)

Brain sugery went as well as can be expected I guess. The surgery was scheduled for 11am- meaning I had to be there at 9am. I've never been in pro-op that ran so smoothly. I was in a bed, in a hospital gown, with an IV by 9:45. Granted that I didn't get wheeled off to surgery until 11:45. All in all though, the pre-op went pretty well. They even gave me some minor drugs to a calm my nerves. I cried a little, wrote notes to my mom and husband, and cried some more. Poor Jacob got stuck lugging my stuff around.

Surgery, thankfully, was unrememberable. They give me enough drugs that I don't remember anything - not that I would want any of those memories. I always tell my surgeons and anesthetist that if they bring back any repressed surgery memories that I'm going to be a very unhappy camper. I woke up from surgery and three thing happened: I was very thirsty for ice chips, I was in a lot of pain and I was very happy to see Eric.

My head was all bandaged up so I couldn't hear; I couldn't even put on my glasses or contacts. Ice chips were a God send. Eric was really helpful and I was really happy he was there. He stayed the whole first night with me. I had to go take an MRI that night. You have to lay still on your back. It hurt lots, but they gave me lots of drugs to help me sleep. It was ok at best: loud machine, excruciating back pain from bone lesions in my shoulders, but I survived that with some minor tears.

 My roommate in the ICU was awful. She refused to keep her clothes on, screamed all the time and couldn't remember anything (like her name, the year, or who was president.) The nurses wake you up every hour for neurological checks. So every time they woke her up, she pooped the bed and screamed bloody murder. It made sleeping really difficult.

Ok so as for the results!! my neurosurgeon felt like he was able to get the majority of the tumor (he didn't want to take out healthy cells) so radiation should clean up the rest of the tumor. I also have 3 other smaller masses that they will obliterate with gamma knife radiation (gamma knife radiation is just a fancy way to say targeted radiation). That radiation starts in a few weeks when my wound heals. So all in all it should be about 2 to 3 weeks following surgery for radiation.

 My goal for the next few weeks is to get all the blood that's been matted into my hair out. Half of my head is shaved. New do for me! I should be able to cover everything up with good hair styling. It's not pretty but it's not as bad as it could be. I have a new bad hair cut, but this is not my biggest problem. I've got the biggest appetite lately because of the meds - also not my biggest problem. Very minor balance and typing is problematic so I'm going to sign off now.

Hugs and love,
Patti