10 December 2004
Falls Church, Virginia / Merrifield, Virginia
I was up at 5 AM today to get ready for surgery by 6 AM where a team of doctors and nurses kicked into action right away and all morning long. I remember some of the prep work, but as soon as the anesthesia hit me, everything stopped for me. The next thing I remember, it was about 11:30 AM and I was in the recovery room.
Here is what happened to me this morning, in very specific terms:
1.) Surgeon: Dr. James Melisi
2.) Diagnosis: Low Grade Astrocytoma
3.) Goal of Surgery: Get tissue samples so that the diagnosis can be confirmed. This is the only way to get a definitive answer, and once I have this, we can find the right neurosurgeon (and team) to operate on me in 2005.
So, all this happened according to schedule and went as well as could be expected. As the afternoon progressed, I could feel myself getting better and better and better. My progress was very linear. My balance was there, and information was closer to the tip of my tongue with each passing hour. I felt very alert by the end of the day, and I know that I presented myself to other people this way.
Where things stand now is that I expect to know some definitive results by 12/17/04. The reason it will take this long is that the tissue samples taken today will need to soak in special chemicals for a fixed period of several days. Apparently, there is no way to expedite this part of the process. It is simply a physical process. But, all this should be done by 12/15/04. At that point, the results will be sent to various neurosurgical teams around the country for analysis. And these really will be top neurosurgeons in the country. That is a whole story unto itself, for it gets down to having a friend like Doug Rutherford with deep connections in the medical community, friends who have survived brain tumors, parents like Mom and Dad who can research the best with given data. Today was successful and this the first step to eventual recovery.
