The Surgery in a Nut Shell

There are moments in life when accepting reality and being ok with the reality that we're given is quite difficult.  Yesterday, I suppose, was no different.  The surgery on David was long, arduous and the waiting was scary.  For just over four hours yesterday we waited for the surgeon to come out and tell us what was going on.  The actual surgery took about three hours and 15 minutes. 

What the doctor said was both good and horrifying in many ways. The good side is that they did remove around 80-90% of the tumor. A huge victory if further treatment has a chance of working.  The parts left behind were those that had spread into the spinal column.  The doctor stated if he removed those sections it would do more harm than good-- in that, he could permanently disable David.  The part I had not fully realized is that while taking out that tumor the doctor also had to remove parts of David's cerebellum.  In order to remove the tumor effectively parts of David's brain had to come out as well.

Don't freak out.

The good news again is that the tumor was in david's cerebellum.  The human brain is an amazing thing and this part of the brain in particular is good at making comebacks.  No, the brain won't regrow the cerebellum but yes the left side that was left untouched will slowly begin to compensate for the things taken out.  Things like mobility and fine motor skills, which David will be missing now when he wakes up and is active again, will come back.  They will begin to regrow and relearn- but it will take time.  Weeks and maybe even months will pass before these skills will start to come back.  And there is a good chance that he won't have all the mobility he had before, which is hard but I suppose its better than being dead.

Its a scary thing to hear a doctor tell you he's taken out part of your brother's brain.  But the small victory is that had the tumor been in any other part of the brain it might have been inoperable. Or if they had operated we might have lost what makes David, David.  We haven't lost any emotions, moods or personality.  He will be the same asshole brother he's always been.  Slightly less mobile maybe but still the same amount of ass. 

I'm at the hospital this morning and he's still groggy and in pain. The meds they have him on are keeping him drowsy and out of it.  We'll know how much mobility he still has in the next few days as he gains his strength and recovers.  He's still able to move all his limbs, squeeze hands when commanded and tell people "to leave me alone I'm trying to sleep". A good sign indeed.

As for me, I'm still in shock and processing the amazing amount of emotions I've had in the last few days.  No easy feat.  But this will pass and when it does more will be revealed.