The spiderman is having me for dinner tonight.

This is how I imagine I would feel if it were me. Annelise and I were driving home late from the hospital last night and we were jamming The Cure's Disintegration. When Lullaby played, I thought, "yep, that weirdness is just how I'd feel.". Let's face it, I'm known to be weird anyway.

So, with that being said, I'll launch into what parts of the story I can tell. Remember, of course, the last few days are a blur for me as well as for my Mom. I hesitated about writing all this, but I guess it's no different from connecting with people through Caring Bridge. So many people are concerned and I can't thank people enough for their concern, thoughts, prayers and love.

I thank God that she was surrounded by people when the seizures began. After a couple days of waiting and anxiety, an MRI revealed a lesion (later called a mass then finally a tumor) about the size of a 'shooter' marble, what Mom affectionately calls a 'belly buster'. It was located above her right eye on the frontal lobe, a place, the neurologist assures us, that's about the best place for a mass to be.

This news was akin to being punched square in the belly despite two days of personal mental preparation. It was in the midst of my 5 a.m. P90X workout Monday morning that I lost it and began to cry. We had to pause Tony and his maddening routine for a few minutes. I blame this on a well-placed photograph of Mom on the shelf next to the television.

Tuesday was a big day. We bid adieu to Mister Tumor. If I could have au revoir-ed that heifer out a window, I would have. But I couldn't. They had plans for it in Pathology. So we wait. We wait to see what kind of lesionmasstumor we happen to be dealing with. One of the text messages I received Tuesday was a co-worker asking if we had a name for it. I answered back, "George". (see this is what I do in times of duress- make completely inappropriate, irresponsible and ridiculous jokes that no one really appreciates. And yes, I say duress, as I feel psychologically pressured.)

'George' being gone, we await pathology results to know where we go from here. I suppose the answers to this will be fodder for the next entry. Wednesday's follow-up MRI showed that they got it all. There are no residuals of 'George' left thanks to the wonderful Dr. Kucia, a neurosurgeon of epic proportions as far as I'm concerned. However, not all the doctors are in agreement with this interpretation...and so we wait...more.

I just can't say enough good things about this hospital. These are the best doctors and nurses. The neurological ICU is top notch all the way. Hey I can't even complain about the hospital food. I've been making myself some killer salads. Now, Mom proabably will disagree on this point as the Speech Pathologist has only cleared her to eat purée. This is code for 'moosh'. She wasnt nearly thrilled about eating that as we were to see her actually eat today.

Through an acquaintance of Herb, Mom's name was even added to the prayer list at Thomas Road Baptist Church, which I think is über cool. This means several hundreds of people will be lifting her up in prayer, on top of all the people back home already praying.

For anyone reading, thank you for your thoughts, prayers, concern, love and positive energy! No one will ever know how much all the calls, texts and Facebook messages mean to us. Wednesday she said she wants us to cook a pig for a party and she won't lift a finger! I love it! She's ready to party and I hope many of our family and friends can join us when we celebrate her recovery. This is down the road a ways of course, but I look forward to having her return home with us. Please forgive my typos as I'm typing on an iPad and there's a lot going on around me. I refuse to proofread today, so sorry 'bout dat!

Respirations

We spent the better part of the day watching a two-digit number rise and fall. It was sort of like watching a loved one rumble by on a roller coaster. You kind of wave at them as you watch them smile right before they begin to ascend an almost vertical hill. You think, "geez I'm glad I decided not to get on that ride.". But, of course, she never was given a choice about this event. It just was. I had tickets for a seafood boil and oyster fest in the neighboring county. This is another reminder that making plans can sometimes be a foolish endeavor. It's a no-brainier that I would pack my overnight bag and declare that, like a cat, I can sleep anywhere...and so I am. After all, this is my Mom we are talking about. If you are reading this entry and you wonder what's going on, well your guess is as good as mine. All I can really say is, we are in an excellent hospital and we have the best nurses and a neurologist who interned at the Mayo Clinic. Hey, he had me at Mayo. There have been improvements in her status. Mom is basically stable and so we wait for answers. Diagnostics are on-going in a place like this. As I said, we watched numbers most of the day. How are her lungs functioning? Some effort was spent on trying to keep her calm and cool her down when she had a hot flash. And then before I knew it, it's late and official visiting hours are over. Me, I'm working on four hours of sleep so I'm looking forward to melting into this very nice recliner I've picked out for myself. They just had a gunshot wound come in, along with his distraught loved one who speaks loudly to someone on the phone. She's complaining a lot about the messy weather outside and there is some impatience with hospital staff. Her tone is acrid and I hope she doesn't make anymore telephone calls as I don't require her negative energy. I haven't a complaint in the world despite my anxiety over Mom's condition. They are taking good care of her, she is resting, and they take good care of family members as well. I realize that not everyone who might read this is a Christian and may not pray to any deity. I must admit that I have become so accustomed to drawing strength from my Lord Jesus, that I could not imagine traveling this path without Him. I am grateful that, during a time when I tried to walk away from God, he turned out to be relentless in his pursuit of me.