Wednesday, March 28, 2012

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!

6 comments:

  1. Lynneberger (but, no cheese, please)Thursday, March 29, 2012 at 7:16:00 AM PDT

    You did an extraordinary job sans proofreading my dear.
    So glad to hear this - not the stressful parts, but the "they got it!" part.
    Love you!

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  2. Hi Stephanie...been thinking of you and your Mom and family this week. Elena has been keeping me informed as much as she understands what has been going on around her. I hope you don' mind, but B.A. added your Mom's name to the prayer list at Buffalo Baptist also. Can't ever have enough prayers!

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  3. I am so relieved that they were able to find the problem and remove it. We are all praying for your mom! Hang in there :)

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  4. Many prayers said Steph. Luv ya! We will continue to pray! Angie Hite

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  5. We are so relieved to hear that the surgery is over and that Kathy is doing well. Our Sunday School class at Ocean Drive Presbyterian prayed for you all last Sunday.....God is good! Hope we are in Clarksville when you celebrate!

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