Laurie got moved to the James Hospital this morning (3 am), so now she has a phone!
The surgeon was very positive yesterday and said that Laurie can go home soon, maybe even today. She just needs to get her pain managed going off IV. (She’ll be on oxycontin, so I guess she’ll have that in common with Rush Limbaugh.) She’s had (if I understood her surgeon’s Italian accent correctly) about 90-95% of the tumor removed. They may or may not do chemo right now, since he feels that it will be very slow growing and the risks may not be worth it. So they may just observe it for a while to see what it does and treat it if it grows. We’ll know more when we meet with the oncologist next week.
We’re getting back a little more to normal. The kids enjoyed their first day of school yesterday and I’m going go to work for a few hours today (if I can remember where my office is).

Sorry for the confusion. This is the new site. I irreversibly corrupted the old version at danglerfamily.com/blog (bad Doug! Don’t play with code!). This one should be more stable.

Thanks

I erased my earlier blog, but Laurie is doing fine. She’s waiting to move out of the SICU and I’m leaving to go visit her in a few minutes. She called me early this morning wanting pajamas, etc., so she must be feeling a lot better and is ready to get rid of the hospital gown (imagine!).

Thanks

Laurie had a difficult night last night, but given that she was recovering from her second surgery in a week, she did well.  She’s had more pain this time, but again that’s not surprising.  She’s on a dilaudid pain pump now that I certainly like to take to work with me later.  As I’m writing this, she’s sleeping well and seems comfortable.  The floor, even though it’s an ICU, is pretty quiet and has rooms that offer a fairly restful environment (as much as possible).

I don’t have much to update right now, since her surgeon is still in the OR and Laurie won’t be getting her post-op MRI until sometime tonight (probably after the visiting hours).  I’ll update on that as soon as I can tomorrow.  The immediate report after the surgery was that they got a much larger piece of the tumor this time, and only left a small piece near a large artery leading to the basal ganglia – the control of the motor functions.  This last piece was too close to be operated on, so she’ll probably have some form of chemotherapy in the future.  We’ll find out more when we meet with the oncologist some time next week

Another 5:30 am check in for another long brain surgery. It’s now 5 pm and we’ve had little word other than the operation seems to be going well. Crumbs for the starving person. This surgery was supposed to be over by 1 or 2, but it’s run 4 hours over. It’s hard to keep your mind from imaging bad outcomes, but if there’s a good outcome, I know that it will all be worth it, but that doesn’t change the worry I’m feeling as I sit here with my parents and in-laws

We got another report on Friday about the tumor.  It does not have the chromosomal deletion that makes it more responsive to chemotherapy, so they are going back in after the small portion they didn’t get the first time.  There is some good news in this.  The deletion would have been better but at least the remainder of the tumor is in an accessible place.  There’s a 10-20% risk of paralysis of the right side with this second surgery, but having all (or as much as possible) of the tumor out makes Laurie’s prognosis better.

Laurie was released on Friday night and now we’re at home, catching our breath.  So much has happened that it’s good to have time at home to rest and recover a little.  Several people have dropped by with food and well-wishes and this makes me think about how lucky we are to have such a wonderful support network.  As many of you know, Laurie’s sister, Lindsey, has been incredibly generous with time and support right now (I’ll have to stop making jokes about heartless lawyers now that I’ve seen Lindsey in action down here).  It’s another of those ironic moments in life when I only realize how fortunate I am at moments when everything is threatened.  Thank you all.

Doug

No word on the final pathology report yet, so we’re just waiting in the hospital.

Thanks,

Doug

We got news that the pathology of the tumor was much better than we’d originally thought and so the surgeon wants to go back in to get the part of it that he didn’t get the first time.  But one of the other oncologists wants to wait for the final pathology report and consider chemo and radiation instead.  So we’re not sure yet what will happen.

But the important part is that the pathology report is so much better than it might have been: an oligodendrocyte instead of an anaplastic astrocytoma or a glioblastoma.  So that’s all for now.

Thanks

Laurie got moved yesterday into her own room, 893 Rhodes Hall. She had to lie flat on her back because of a surgery complication (a spinal fluid leak that appears to be healing), so she was very bored.   However, she just called to say that the drainage has stopped and she’s allowed to sit up, get out of bed, etc.!

This is great news.

Thanks,

Doug

The bandages came off today and she’s feeling good. They’re talking about moving her out of the SICU today and into a private room in the James Cancer center. Since she doesn’t seem like she’ll need any rehab, the move to the James should be the last step before she comes home. The phones (which went out during Laurie’s surgery) still don’t seem to be working, so she can only call out, not receive calls.