Let me give you the background. As I said in my last post, we went to see the new Neurosurgeon, Dr. Richard Schmidt today. He was great! We thought we were in good hands with the Neurologist we had originally seen and who was going to do the surgery but I must admit that I am even more confident with this new Neurosurgeon. He was very informative and seems to be somewhat of an expert on cysts. He has written publications on the rupture of cysts and has operated on several in the past.
He stated that cysts like Tracy's are not common. They receive 2-3 cases like his a year. He has seen only a few that are as large or larger than his. He told us about one woman whose cyst had even grown up into the brain and behind the eyes. This thing had grown through just about everything. They were able to remove the cysts and she had no loss of function.
We have absolute faith in this doctor. He will also have his chief resident present in the operating room. As I had stated before, the hardest part will be trying to remove it by the brain stem and cranial nerves. If the density of the cyst is too thick and more difficult to pick at and piece out safely, he may need to leave the portion that is connected to the brain stem. If he ends up leaving that, the brain stem will never fully realign but he said it will not impair the functionality of the brain stem because the pressure on it will have been relieved. He does feel confident he can remove the majority of the cyst.
We were at the hospital from 10:30 to 3:45. After meeting with the doctor, we had to do all the pre-op paperwork and labs and because we did not have an appointment for pre-op we had to wait about an hour and a half.
With that being said, the date for surgery is this Friday, December 11. He will be in the ICU for 2 days and the hospital up to 6 days. Pray that he does not have any complications and everything goes smoothly! Dr. Schmidt said that he will be in quite a bit of pain but they will give him many doses of pain meds to control that. He was prescribed steroids to take the next couple of days to get his muscles and everything prepared. The doctor said there will be a lot of pressure and he will be moving things around a bit in there so the steroids will strengthen his muscles to better cope with all of that. Good news is he should be home for Christmas if all goes well.
They will be cutting a square shape out of his skull in the lower part of the brain and be working through that to remove the cysts. So he will have a pretty big scar but he will be alive and eventually feeling tip top again!
The same risks still apply as well as possibility of pneumonia from being under anesthesia that long. So we could still use your prayers!
I also wanted to thank the people at my work who donated some of their vacation time in my behalf. It is great how people will reach out for someone in their time of need.
I will post again after the surgery and let everyone know when it will be okay to visit Tracy; if they would like to.
We posted some pics of the tumor so everyone can see what we are dealing with. Click on the picture for a larger view.
That is the best news so far! I was hoping for something at U Med. I have complete confidence in their abilities. I've had two surgeries and several ER visits there myself—they've always had the greatest & most compitant staff.
ReplyDeleteBest of luck, and we will be thinking of you.
Love ya, Bro!