We've Arrived! (Plus Status Update)

Well, the last few days have certainly been busy, but we’ve made it so far! Early Sunday morning, Pooh and I said a tearful goodbye to Monkey (who is staying in DC with grandma and grandpa) and headed for the airport. After arriving in Los Angeles, we went straight to the hotel and “set up camp” for the next 16 days. The hotel is just perfect for us, and we wish we’d found this place for the last two surgeries – the rooms are larger and nicer, unfortunately, no microwaves…and believe me, living/eating in Beverly Hills can get a little expensive if you’re going to restaurants all the time. Let’s just say that in this area, there’s not necessarily a Taco Bell on every corner. Problem solved by a quick trip to Wal-Mart…against hotel regulations? Probably. Is that my primary concern at this point? Probably not. ;-)
Okay, so we arrived at the Maxine Dunitz Neurosurgical Institute:

Yesterday started with what’s called a “pre-operative teaching” at 11:00am. An OR nurse walks you through the entire process, and tries to answer all of your questions. Everything was pretty standard, and although it’s been three years since my last surgery, I remember pretty well how things go. She gave me my “special shampoo” that I have to use before my pre-op brain scan (which disinfects the scalp and hair), and a whole stack of paperwork – consent forms, referrals, and so forth. From there, on to pre-admissions, where I go through the entire admissions process – contact info, next-of-kin, insurance, medical history, the works. After admissions, on to the lab, where they do standard bloodwork – the phlebotomist even told me I have “juicy veins!” I took it as a compliment. After a quick lunch break, Pooh and I headed up to the internist, who does the entire physical. Urinalysis, exam, interview, then the EKG and chest X-Ray. Everything went just fine, except the EKG…which they couldn’t get to stick, so they had to shave parts of my chest. Now, this could easily turn into a separate blog that would almost certainly have TMI, but I’ll summarize by saying that my Air Force callsign (nickname) is “Chewie” – yes, as in “Chewbacca.” So, I look rather amusing at the moment, with two significant shaved areas in the middle of my chest…oh, well. It will grow back.
The last appointment of the day was the actual consultation with the neurosurgeon. We had a great talk – I’m always amazed and how the surgeons here can really put you at ease, even with regard to a procedure this major. He explained the procedure and all the associated risks…they’re essentially the same as last time. Brain surgery always has a risk of stroke, coma, or even death, but they’re actually very small risks…the removal of this portion of the brain (the right frontal lobe) can introduce some memory or personality differences, but the doc reassured us that in right-handed males, language is in the left frontal lobe, so he doesn’t anticipate any language of speech difficulties. They’ll do a biopsy during surgery to determine the pathology and grade of the tumor, and make other decisions at that time – if the tumor has upgraded to WHO Grade III/IV, they’ll likely insert chemotherapy wafers (called Gliadel) into the brain before closing me up. Radiation is also an option after surgery, but one we’ll likely save for the future – and, hopefully, never need! He couldn’t promise a quick recovery, but I’ll likely be discharged over the weekend. If there’s anyone in the LA area who wants to visit after that, I’d love to see you!
At the end of the day, what this all means is that I’m medically cleared for surgery. At this point, there’s pretty much no stopping this train…unless I get seriously ill in the next 48 hours, we’re going to do this thing. I have one more appointment – my brain scan tomorrow at 1:00pm – but other than that, I’m pretty much done until I check in for surgery at 5:15am on Thursday. My wife may blog while I’m still in the hospital, but other than that, the next time you hear from me, I’ll be tumor-free!