Surgery Prep – Day 2
Posted by Casey on February 13th, 2007
Key Updates: My surgery is at 6:00am (whoa!) and will last approximately 7 hours. Assuming things go well, I’ll be in the ICU for one night, and then spend 2 to 3 days in the hospital. We’ll stay at least a couple more days in Houston for follow-up visits and planning of my radiation treatment.
The Full Story: Another crazy day is done. The most recent moment was the photo above… Jill’s and my attempt to have a laugh from warped photos after having these fruit-loop like things glued all over my head. They will guide the team during surgery tomorrow.
Today had just two appointments, the first of which was a meeting with my surgeon. It was basically a meeting to sign-off on all of the risks, which we walked through again. It was also an opportunity to ask any last questions from the surgeon before I head in tomorrow morning. We talked about the size of my scar, which will wrap a good part of my head. (Luckily I have an all-star-hair-styling sister to take care of me. She’s already taken off about a pound of my big hair, in preparation.)
I was also asked to participate in two new studies by donating some of my brain tissue/tumor. I happily signed-off on both as I think it’s an amazing opportunity to have the chance to help people in the future that are struck with similar issues.
The appointment ended with me having the fruit-loops glued to my head. There’s six total, and they helped in the MRI for mapping out key points for the surgery.
The second of the appointments was that MRI. Part of it was just the standard baseline scan (mapping the fruit-loops). The other part was very interesting. It was a combination of yesterday’s cognitive tests and an MRI. While the MRI was buzzing and pounding, a recording instructed me to think various things. First I had to listen to a few short stories and visualize them as much as I could. Next, I was given various categories… cities, colors, etc., and was asked to name as many as I could in 20 seconds, then wait, then move to the next category. The last test was just like yesterday… I was given a letter of the alphabet and told to think of as many words as I could that started with that letter. First, G… then M… and last, C. “Cookie” and “Candy” were the first two words I thought of. :)
With all this information, they built a doppler radar-like map of where my brain stores my vocabulary so the doctors can better avoid it tomorrow. Very cool!
Anyway, it’s my last day of appointments. Now on to the big day…
Tags: surgery