The surgery and subsequent rehab

Thursday August 26th

My tumor removal surgery was scheduled for 3:30pm. I had a wonderful surgeon, Dr. Charles S Cobb. The original plan was to remove the front mass, and then he hoped he would be able to remove some of the second one too, but wasn’t sure if he could without damaging my motor nerves. Fortunately, he was able to remove the entire front tumor, and even with the difficulty of the location of the second one, was able to remove 90-95% after getting in my head and assessing the situation. I stayed in the ICU for a few days to recover while the swelling from surgery went down. I was only allowed one visitor so Dave kept me company. I celebrated the small wins – walking 1/4 of a mile in the hospital hallways!

Directly after surgery I had movement of all my limbs which was a good sign. The second tumor was on the right side of my brain, right near the bits that control motion. There was some risk that my movement would be affected. The day after surgery I was able to lift my left arm and leg but the next day that got worse as swelling on my brain went up. Once the swelling receded, and with plenty of rehab and encouragement that motion came back.

August 28th

I was moved to the rehab floor on the 28th to start physical and occupational therapy. I didn’t have a clear day on when I was going to leave so I worked hard in the hopes that I wouldn’t be there for too long. I was in a room on my own with an alarm on the bed and chair as I was a fall risk. I had to call for a nurse to help me get out of bed!!!

Tuesday September 7th – The Great Escape!!!!!!

They agreed to release me to Dave. The journey home was terrifying!!! The brain receives millions of pieces of information at a time and my brain was not able to [process or filter fast enough. I wore a face mask the whole way home and while driving for the next few weeks