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Good morning, everyone!

My first day back home went well, and I actually was able to sleep for 8 hours, which is impressive since I'm on a higher dose of the steroids again. I'm tapering off the devil drugs at least. 

It still feels a little surreal that this is all happening again - also that I just had an 8 hour brain surgery, I'm the same KJ, and am already home. My neurosurgeon was so impressed with how well I was doing (and how much of the bitch tumor he was able to safely remove), that he moved me to neuro general care after 2 nights in the neuro ICU, and discharged me after 1 night in neuro general care. I was supposed to be in the hospital minimally 5 days. Apparently I'm a champ, heh. 

I have to say that I got quite the compliment yesterday. A friend of ours is an ex-Green Beret sniper 1 (sniper instructor). He told me that I was a badass and that he'd take me into battle any day for how brave I've been, which is quite the compliment coming from him. He's done the stuff that they make movies about.

Ever the craft nerd, I had my mom bring a card that I had previously made so that I could give it to my neurosurgeon. Things I never thought I'd write in a card: "Thank you for saving my life."

 

This is what 8 hours of deep brain surgery looks like - 30 sutures, a titanium plate, and titanium screws.

Fight like hell.

Got a Lime in My Coconut

We met with my neurosurgeon Dr. Baskaya and his nurse practitioner this morning to go over surgery particulars and pre-op items. I also had my sutures removed from the ETV surgery last week.

#BigASSBrainSurgery is scheduled for the 18^th at 7:10 am. We will check-in at the hospital at 5:30 am, right as the surgery unit opens for the day. Surgery will last approximately 5-6 hours, depending on how much of the bitch tumor dr. baskaya is able to safely remove.  I will be in the neuro icu for at least a day, possibly all 5 days, but it will depend on how I’m recovering and if there is room/need for me on a general floor.

Dr. Baskaya will remove approximately a 5cm by 5cm piece of my skull for surgery. My skull will be reattached with titanium screws and possibly a plate or titanium mesh. From What I can determine from my latest mri report, the main bitch tumor is roughly the size of a lime [last time it was a small plum]. However, this time she brought friends that are trying to jump the bridge [corpus callosum] to the other hemisphere of my brain. Dr. Baskaya will try to remove as many of the friends as safely possible.

The goal of the surgery is to safely resect as much of the bitch tumor as possible. Any tissue removed will be sent to pathology to determine the best possible treatment route. Any bitch tumor tissue that dr. baskaya does not feel that he can safely remove will be left and later evicted by the chosen treatment method.

We are very confident in dr. baskaya’s abilities to safely remove a large portion of the bitch tumor and friends.

Fight like hell.