1:24 - Friday

Welcome all!

Mom has a "Meningioma." It is a tumor that grows just under her brain cavity between her eyebrows. For now, the dr. doesn't think this is cancer. We will not know for sure until after surgery on Monday.

Daddy got updates from Dr. Bildiwala this morning. Mom had an MRI last night. It was ordered because the doctor was concerned. Mom is responding to some commands, but not all of the time. He wanted to know if she had had a stoke or if she had more seizeres. Good news - so far no stroke. No more seizeres either.

Mom was tested for a genetic mutation that I have called factor 5. She has it. It is a mutation that makes her more likely than the rest of the public to either have a heart attack or stoke because of blood clots. With this information, the doctors will give her medicine that will help her. It is a balancing act. They have to give her enough to make her not clot early, but not too much to cause over bleeding. With the information, we will hopefully be able to prevent stroke or heart attack. She has a high risk for both.

Right now mom is being wheeled out to an angiogram. She has a major artery that goes into the tumor. The procedure will let us know if it goes into the front of the tumor or the back. If it goes into the front of the tumor then the doctors will take care of it during surgery on Monday. If it goes into the back of the tumor, they will put something like glue into the arterys to block them. The more arterys they can block, the better for the surgery. She should be out of that around 4 pm today.

After that procedure, they will take the breathing tube out of her throat. Then, they will take most sedation meds off. This will allow mom to wake up more and let us know how much she can respond. Hopefully, we will be able to talk to her and tell her about what is wrong. Pray that we will have the correct words that don't scare her too much.

Saturday should be a quiet day. We will be able to see her more probably because she will be awake.

Sunday, Mom will have another MRI to map the brain before surgery. This will help the doctors know exactly where they are in her brain.

Monday will be 8-10 hours of surgery.

For now, limited visitors. If you are going to visit, please come between 6:00 and 8:30. This is a time both morning and afternoon in which we cannot see mom because of shift change. Dad is able to visit and not have to split time with mom. For now, we are going home at 9:00ish. This way we can rest, take showers and get ready for the next day. The nurse is two feet from her at all times usually in a chair for now. We will get a hotel room during sugery and after to stay closer to the hospital.

Please keep your prayers centered on Mom and Daddy.

In Dad's words, "This is like a very long race with a LOT of hurdles. We have to get over every hurdle."

Thank you for your prayers. If you have questions, comment, email aclark78@hotmail.com, or call 972-977-6157 (my cell).