Game On.
Surgery is tomorrow! Here's what's been happening. On Wednesday I flew down to Arizona. On Thursday, I had a new MRI and CT completed in the morning and a phone visit with the pre-op nurse that afternoon. Steve and Finnley made it down safe and sound on Saturday. Today, I finally met Dr. Almefty in person! He was thorough, kind, and down to earth. All of our questions and anxieties were addressed. We then met his assistant Jen who also spent ample time addressing our pre- and post-op concerns. Then it was time to make it official and sign the consent forms.
I think what I'm most excited about is that Dr. Almefty's favorite anesthesiologist (Dr. Le) and assisting neurosurgeon, (Dr. Williamson) will also be on my team. Sounds like I'll have all the star players!
The Game Plan.
When I arrive tomorrow morning around 5 am, I will meet Dr. Almefty and Dr. Le. Surgery will begin around 7 am. They plan for a long day. He wouldn't say how long exactly... and emphasized that they will take as long as they need in order to be as careful and as thorough as possible. My surgery is the only surgery he is doing tomorrow. When I get out of surgery, I will spend at least one night in ICU. Steve will get to see me after surgery, no matter the time. Unfortunately no overnight guests are allowed. Hopefully after the first night, I move to regular floor and then home after a couple more nights.
Other Stats.
Some people were wondering if surgery would be filmed. He said they weren't planning on it but they could if I wanted. I opted not to. RIP to the hair on the back, right side of my scalp. They will shave some of my head behind my ear for the surgical incision. All attempts to spare my hearing as well as other nerve functions will be made. As I mentioned previously, there is some risk of nerve damage, BUT all attempts will be made to minimize said damage. The tumor size appears similar to my scans in April. Some of my cerebellum is still dipping out the base of my skull. The hope is that once room is freed up from the tumor resection, it will return to it's normal resting position sitting comfortably in the skull. After surgery, the tumor tissue will go through pathology to determine if it truly is a meningioma (everyone is confident it is) and other tumor properties. I will have a follow up appointment within a couple weeks of surgery to go over how much residual tumor there is, when I will need to get new scans, and how I will do follow up appointments. Steve and I plan to spend a month down in Arizona before making the trek back up to NorCal.
Ready to GO!
I'm feeling really confident about surgery tomorrow and I'm even weirdly excited. I have an excellent team backing me between the surgeons, medical team, family, friends, and Facebook support group. Steve and my BFF Jessica (who lives down here) are tasked with keeping everyone updated. At some point after surgery, Steve will post an update here. To get an email when he updates, make sure to sign up below. See you on the other side!
