Reality Check Part II

Part II of my saga…Well, we have some really good news. Rob and I went to Kaiser Vacaville yesterday to see my Nuero Surgeon. Our visit with Dr. Boskovitz went really well. Here’s the rundown:

No “C” word. Huge relief that pathology came back clear so no need for chemo or radiation. Talk about a weight off our shoulders…It felt like we could breathe again. Pathology also labeled it a Grade 1 which is a good thing. This is the best news we could have asked for.

I’m on Kepra (anti-seizure) for at least the next 5 months, which also means no driving during that time. Rob was not in favor of my suggestion that I get a baby carrier to pull behind my bike so that I could go grocery shopping. If you live in North Auburn you understand why…hahaha

As far as exercise, I can keep walking and doing things that don’t add pressure to my dome. Heavy weights and downward dog are out for the moment until I heal some more, which, unfortunately is a SLOW process. Doc said that I will get tired very easy. No swimming until my staple path aka “zipper head” is completely healed. If it gets any type of infection they will have to operate again (which means removing part of my skull again) and that’s really not an option I want to explore. I am ready for a hike though!

Cleared for Take Off! Yes, I can travel! So, we will be looking at tickets to Baja ASAP. So excited to go fishing and hang out at the beach. Only things I can’t do is go scuba diving (pressure build up again) and drink too much at the swim up bar… ;)

The fluid build-up is apparently fairly normal based on the hole in my head, but it usually happens sooner. It’s basically brain fluid and at night when I’m sleeping the gravity allows it to seep in between my skull and skin. It really is gross feeling and I hope it goes away soon. If I’m vertical for a few hours it starts to go back to normal. If you look closely at the picture below, you can see the fluid between the skin and skull on the left side. See, gross right???

The headaches are normal too. Check out how much of my cranium they removed- an entire layer! Apprently he took off a layer of my cranium on the left side. That is a lot of dome GONE! WTH. (Just a reminder from one of the older blogs, a Melingioma typically grows downwards from the skull and presses into brain like mine did. A "brain" tumor actaully grows in the brain.) Definitely no skiing this year!

Tumor timing- still no one can tell me how long my BAT has been there. Apparently these are very slow growing and mine was the size of half an orange!!! Geesh! One website I read, said that the average growth is 1-2mm a year. SO, it might have been there a VERY long time! There is a chance for reoccurrence, so in two months I get another MRI and then again in 7 months and then about every year. If they do find something down the road, Dr. B said they will probably do a targeted radiation. Let’s just hope and pray that it stays GONE!

Location- in case you’re interested in knowing…the location of the tumor was the left frontal/parietal area of my brain. Dr. B also said that this is the best tumor to have if you’re going to have a tumor. Ummm, okay. LOL I guess that’s good news.

You'll get this if you've ever worked in the medical field... The screws are Biomet. The Kaiser I was in was older so no Pandora during surgery- it was only the radio but I’m not sure the station. He said the Vacaville Kaiser is much more modern and they usually listen to the Eagles or something like that during surgery. I can totally respect that.

That’s the long and short of it. Basically, my recovery is going well. I just have to be patient with myself and not expect that I will be 100% next week. Recovery from a suergy like this is super slow. I have to force myself to put the brakes on and not try to doeverything. Yes, this is a huge challenge for me! Oh, that reminds me, I owe you a puppy update too. The Fabulous Dr. Kristy McCamy said that Sierra is going to have about 8 puppies and they are due in about a week, so I better hurry up and get better. It’s gonna be craziness around here. :)

Poor Momma Sierra..She's soooo ready to have puppies!

Last thing for this blog…thanks for all the kind and touching emails/PM’s ya’ll have sent me. Usually they make me cry, but they are very healing and special to me. Sorry if I don’t reply immediately. I have to take some time to process them. There are so many people going through some really difficult situations right now and you would never even have a clue. SO, BE KIND ‘cause you just never know…

I hope that you all have a wonderful weekend. Give an extra big hug to your loved ones and call or send a note to an old friend you haven’t spoken to in a while because you’ve been “too busy.”

Love, light, and happiness to ya’ll!

-Mel