The Plan

Had a whirlwind of appointments in Vancouver yesterday. Met with the neurosurgeon, the radiation oncologist, and also had yet another CT scan of my brain (third in two weeks). Upshot of all that is that I will be having surgery on Tues am followed by a course of radiation. Will give more details later, but here's the short story:

Have pre-op at 8am on Monday, so we (Phil, Ellen and I) are heading in to Vancouver on Sunday night. Surgery is scheduled for 7:30am on Tuesday. Procedure will include removal of the lesion in my frontal lobe as well as the annoying subcutaneous cyst above my left ear. Surgery time should be about 2hrs. Believe I'll be recovering in VGH. How long I'm there will depend on how quickly I recover from surgery, but am told to expect discharge by Friday. May be sooner or later, depending on my response. If I'm feeling well enough, and there is every indication that I will, radiation will begin next Mon. If I'm not up for that, it will be delayed until the following Monday. Will have entire brain radiated to ensure any potential sites (esp microscopic) are also dealt with. Treatment will be five days a week for about two weeks.

Given that the brain lesion is encapsulated and in a "quiet" area of the brain (eg not responsible for speech, motorskills, etc), it is very low risk. Surgeon said very little chance of side effects, especially since I don't currently experience seizures or anything like that. Essentially he'll cut a hole in the skull, take out the growth, replace the removed bone, and sew me up. The cyst is located between the scalp and skull, so no bone to deal with there.

Am told I will need to be much more vigilant about doing brain exercises like crosswords, sudoku, factual comprehension reading, etc to help the brain recover. Bonus: these things have also been proven to help slow the aging of the brain in non-surgical patients so will also serve as an ounce of prevention in that regard. Both the surgeon and radiation oncologist stressed "no passive TV watching!!" as it does absolutely nothing in terms of cognitive funtion. Good thing I don't have a TV and only watch anything via computer - a cheap alternative to TV that lets me watch what I want when I want (usually catch up on all my programs in one evening so TV doesn't rule my life like it might have at one time - you know, it's 9pm on Tues and "my show" is on).

Phil and Ellen are out until the end of the month, so they'll be available to help me both here and in Vancouver. They've been attending various medical appts with me already. Will likely stay with Donna during radiation treatment as she is so close to the hospital. Palliative care team is on deck to help out once I get back home as are several friends. I honestly don't know at this point if I'll need any of this assistance, but won't hestiate to ask for help if needed.

I'm staying away from group activities for the time being.

Will update with details as they come in. If I can't update the blog, Penny has agreed to post any news she feels appropriate to share.

Had my head shaved today. Prefer my stylist's touch to that of the pre-op team. LOVE having a wash-n-go head once more.

All for now.