This morning we called Dr. Pingree's office. The receptionist had no news of the tumor board reviewing my case. But said that she would have Dr. Pingree call us as soon as he was out of operation. We waited until about 10:30 when the receptionist called us back. She told us that my Dr. had no knowledge of my Functional MRI being done?... I believed him but am bothered, at that point Bryson was also bothered (bothered is a nice word for how we really felt.) Bryson then worked out a plan to pick up the MRI results from the University Hospital and deliver them to my dr. Otherwise it would take my dr's office days to receive them. When we dropped them off we were able to meet with my dr. He apologized for the confusion and basically blamed it on the large university program. He then told us that as soon as he heard I had the functional MRI he called the radiologist, who essentially agreed with everything he had seen in the first MRI. It appears the tumor is low grade, probably benign, slow growing. There is a possibility that it is not a tumor at all and could have been a congenital brain defect that I was born with. But they can not be sure unless they biopsy it and look at it, which takes around 2 days for the stain to fully sink in and for them to be sure of what it is. The tumor is around or near the speech center of my brain. They will not be 100% sure of location until surgery. It is not near the movement part, so no matter what I will be able to move my body and face (good news).
The current plan is... Dr.Pingree is going to call Dr. Johnson at the U (he is the only dr who does the awake surgeries, and don't worry there will be a full team there.) They will discuss if they still want to present my case to the tumor board or if a biopsy is best. If they do a biopsy then they will know exactly what the tumor is and how aggressive they need to remove it. They want to save my speech. I want to save my speech, so I am being as patient as needed. My dr explained it like this: I will still be able to think of the words and sentences but they will not process in my brain properly and will not come out the way i want. I will hear them and will know the words are not right and I will be super frustrated. I also may not be able to write them properly. His example was... I would want to say :"The pen is green." and I would end up saying "The apple is red" yep that would be frustrating. So we should know more possibly tomorrow. But we are again waiting and I beg all of you to be patient with me. There is no use if they drill into my skull and screw everything up.
Here are a few more good things. I no longer need to be baby sat/left alone, it is a good sign that I have not had a full fledged seizure since last Monday. I am having small muscle twitches, but the dr in unsure if they are small seizures or side effects of my medication. That being said I'm not sure Bryson is comfortable leaving me :) Also I asked him about my hair loss, he said he is a hair preserver and that infection has little to due with hair removal. Now he probably will not be my head surgeon but if it was him he would need to make a big question mark cut from the top of my forehead to my ear. He would then only shave around the ? incision. So will see, seriously I could care less and would just make my hair a fun crazy style and rock it! Also we asked him about how long until I could possibly drive. He GUESSED that after 1 month of recovery I could maybe drive. that sounds good to me :)
K I promise to update our blog when I have updates. LOVE YOU ALL, THANK YOU FOR ALL THE LOVE!
The current plan is... Dr.Pingree is going to call Dr. Johnson at the U (he is the only dr who does the awake surgeries, and don't worry there will be a full team there.) They will discuss if they still want to present my case to the tumor board or if a biopsy is best. If they do a biopsy then they will know exactly what the tumor is and how aggressive they need to remove it. They want to save my speech. I want to save my speech, so I am being as patient as needed. My dr explained it like this: I will still be able to think of the words and sentences but they will not process in my brain properly and will not come out the way i want. I will hear them and will know the words are not right and I will be super frustrated. I also may not be able to write them properly. His example was... I would want to say :"The pen is green." and I would end up saying "The apple is red" yep that would be frustrating. So we should know more possibly tomorrow. But we are again waiting and I beg all of you to be patient with me. There is no use if they drill into my skull and screw everything up.
Here are a few more good things. I no longer need to be baby sat/left alone, it is a good sign that I have not had a full fledged seizure since last Monday. I am having small muscle twitches, but the dr in unsure if they are small seizures or side effects of my medication. That being said I'm not sure Bryson is comfortable leaving me :) Also I asked him about my hair loss, he said he is a hair preserver and that infection has little to due with hair removal. Now he probably will not be my head surgeon but if it was him he would need to make a big question mark cut from the top of my forehead to my ear. He would then only shave around the ? incision. So will see, seriously I could care less and would just make my hair a fun crazy style and rock it! Also we asked him about how long until I could possibly drive. He GUESSED that after 1 month of recovery I could maybe drive. that sounds good to me :)
K I promise to update our blog when I have updates. LOVE YOU ALL, THANK YOU FOR ALL THE LOVE!
Hey Summer! Just got caught up on your current situation and just wanted to send my love. I will for sure keep you and your family in our prayers.
ReplyDeleteWith love,
Karrie:)