Neurosrugery news!

Well, I am pretty bummed (and in fact was crying my eyes out when I left) becuase we were not able to schedule surgery today. The scheduling person (secretary? Nurse?) will call me by Wednesday of next week to schedule my surgery. We are looking at a date after Halloween, so the Halloween party will go on this year after all...although the kids aren't sure now since they already told their friends not to count on it.

When it came to AF being late by 5 days now, he wasn't surprised and was actually surprised that AF was still pretty regular up to last month. It was an indicator that surgery was probably our best option. Although my tumor is not a hormone producing one, it is crushing my pituitary gland which is affecting the hormone production. At least I know not to waste any money on tests....He said not to expect AF until after surgery.

Let's see, 2-3 days in the hospital, the first day will be in ICU, then I will be transferred to the regular neurosrugery ward. FOUR weeks off of work...at least I will accrue more time between now and November so hopefully I will have enough paid time off to cover the full four weeks by then. At this point I have enough time to cover 3 weeks and 2 days.

He suggested having help at home for a week after returning home from surgery. I know that Andrew won't be able to take that much time off of work...well he could but I don't think his client would stand for it!!

He also said that I would probably be advised not to drive for at least 2 weeks after surgery. Not sure how that'll work, but it's gonna have to!

I will go in for an MRI during surgery, after surgery and then 2-3 months after surgery. He will continue to follow me and have MRIs done every 6 months for "a while".

He feels it's in an "accessible" place and that he will be able to remove it without damage to teh pituitary gland...his biggest concern is damage to the point that I develop diabetes insipidus.

We won't know til about a month after surgery if I will need hormone replacement therapy. I didn't even talk to him about TTC, right now that is not a priority...I just want to be back to normal and be able to see correctly.

The biggest side effect to expect is extreme fatigue. he said to expect that for at least a month after surgery.

He was able to give me some percocet (sp?) for the headaches, but since it's a controlled substance, they were only able to give me 30 pills total (and I am told I can take up to 8 a day!)

I told him of the "battle" I've got going on with my ex and how stressful that is and he suggested that in that case it would more important to have it done sooner...so he is bumping my priority up!!