Neuro Surgeon visit #1

Alisa and I visited with Dr. Nathan today for about 40 minutes. He was very informative and was able to answer a lot of questions for us. The big news of the appointment was not great. The assumed glioma is definitely in my motor cortex. He indicated that he would not recommend at this time a resection (removal) of the tumor, because it would very likely affect my motor function on the left side of my body. For now his advice is to do a biopsy of the tumor and have a pathologist determine the exact nature of the tumor. Then, conversations with the neuro-surgeons and neuro-oncologists will determine what we do next. Dr. Nathan indicated that they will likely do some form of radiation treatment.

We also discussed some of the more cutting edge medical treatments and were excited to find out that there is a Gamma Knife in Utah. This is a precise piece of equipment that can destroy cancer cells with radiation, but with limited effects to the surrounding healthy tissue. Other options include interactive brain mapping that involves awake open brain surgery where they remove tissues little by little and actively test the patients motor function. As long as they give me a valium or two I could probably enjoy this. Makes me wonder if brains stink? This procedure is only done at the University of Utah from what I gathered. The name Dr. Schmidt came up as a specialist.

So with another appointment on Thursday, we will wait and see what Dr. McDonald has to say. Dr. Nathan indicated that he has great respect for him and that he expects his diagnosis to be similar.

So this is kind of a bummer. We were kind of getting our hopes up that they would do the biopsy and get a pathologist on standby to confirm and then the surgeon would resect the tumor. This is pretty much a no go now, as he indicated that even a partial removal may affect motor function.

I am working on positivity right now. I have had cold symptoms for about 9 days now, and it is really a drain on my state of mind. I need to get active, but it is hard when your head feels like it weighs 50 pounds. I have really cleaned up my diet and my body may be registering a state of detox and that could be causing the cold symptoms. No chew, no soda, no sugar, nothing artificial, lots of fresh veggies, vitamins, tons of water and green tea. Cocoa, acai, blueberries, mortmorency cherries, flax seed and fax oil, wild caught salmon.

I need to get some confirmation of when I can drive too. If I am on Dilantin, I should be safe from seizures. Having to be chauffeured is really lame. So I will get this all figured out soon. I am nervous, but being really aggressive about fighting this. I really appreciate everyone's prayers, support, love and friendship. I promise my next post will be either better news or the usual happy go lucky Snowman. Just a little frustrated right now.