Surgery Tomorrow - report time is 8AM

Things are already going in our favor for tomorrow. The extremely early wake-up call has been relieved somewhat, with a report time to the hospital being 8AM. That means Dad won't likely be rolled into the OR until after 10:30AM, but it's a little bit easier on everyone when the day doesn't start at 4:15AM.

The Huffs left this morning as we left for our appointment with the neurosurgeon. It really was great to have them around for a few days. Uncle Steve arrived this evening just in time to join us for dinner at Michael's (Dad thought steak and shrimp sounded good before several days of hospital food, so that is what we did). He'll be hanging around for a few days to offer support, and as he put it, help shield Dad from Mom and I. :)

The appointment with the neurosurgeon went well, and I think we all walked out a bit more encouraged. Dad asked him if his brother were in the same situation, would he tell him to the surgery, and the neurosurgeon responded, "Absolutely. Yes," without hesitating a moment. He walked through the surgery, where they were going to make the incision (starting above his right ear, back to the back of the head and then up the midline to his forehead), and how much hair he was going to have cut. Just a single strip of hair about an inch wide all along the incision path. Everything else remains intact. The idea is to go in tomorrow and remove as much of the necrosis and temporal lobe where tumor is present as he can do safely. He wants to remove as much pressure on the brain stem and have the brain relax with more room.

Above is the MRI scan from last week (click on the image to make it bigger), with a frame taken to show just what they're thinking of doing tomorrow. Note: I do not have my neurology degree, but I have been paying attention in the clinic appointments. In the center is kind of a "mickey mouse" ears shape -- that's the brain stem. The two "ears" should be symmetrical. Looking at the picture, the one on the left is compressed. This is what is causing all of the physical and cognitive problems for Dad.

I was reminded today that for someone that is right-hand dominant, most of your speech, memory, vision, and coordination are stored on the left side of your brain. So thankfully, Dad is right handed. If he were left handed, they could not go in and remove what they're going to remove tomorrow. He wouldn't have been a surgical candidate if he were left-handed since this tumor/necrosis is on the right.

We got him pre-admitted into the hospital this afternoon, as well as additional ultrasounds of his legs to ensure that there were no blood clots (Dad's been mentioning a few times calf pain since coming off of the coumadin that thins his blood, so everyone wanted to be sure). Early indications were that there were no clots present. Great news there.

Back and forth to the clinic we went today - three times in all for appointments, vascular lab, mass and a chat with the priest, and then for me to pick up a CD of the scans that were done last week. I've driven more in the past three weeks than I have in the past four months combined.

I just talked with my Intel teammates, and they've crashed my house in Portland and are drinking my good wine after raiding the wine closet. A few are staying there tonight (Intel has done so much for me, that I'm trying to pay them back with a free couple of nights of lodging and some nicer surroundings than a hotel room), which brings much needed life to the house that has sat dormant and quiet for over three weeks now. Thanks, guys!

I will be posting tomorrow when I can. The surgery will go for 3-4 hours once he gets into the operating room, so as I hear things I'll try to update the blog. Thanks to you all for your support and checking in. It means the world to the entire family.

Until tomorrow. . .