Waiting Until May 13

When last I posted, and ten years ago at this time, my little family was waiting for my surgery date.  At this point in my story, we had definitively scheduled the surgery for May 13, though I was to be admitted to the hospital a day earlier on May 12.  The type of tumor that the neurosurgeon assumed that I had was, as my husband stated in his decade old email, a meningioma.  Typically, those tumors are benign and my MRI certainly supported that supposition because the tumor was not, in fact, invading my brain tissue....just the space my brain was supposed to occupy.  Despite the appearance of the benign nature of my tumor, my doctor was fairly concerned about the size and the potential for massive blood loss once he began the process of removing this thing that had been taking up a large amount of real estate in my skull.  He sent me to a neuroradiologist - a radiologist who specializes in the brain, obviously.  The plan was to admit me into the hospital a day early so that the neuroradiologist could snake a catheter up my femoral artery, through my carotid and into my brain to occlude any major blood vessels essentially "feeding" the tumor.  It was explained to me as a very similar process to angioplasty - except in this case, they were blocking blood flow with a glue-like substance rather than cleaning out blood vessels.  It was a scary prospect, particularly when the twin risks of stroke and embolism were explained to me.  I think I was more afraid of this procedure than the process that my neurosurgeon would perform the next day - actually drilling into my skull and removing foreign matter from my brain.  I was to be awake, under twilight sedation, the entire time...you know, so they could make sure I didn't stroke out or OD on anesthesia the following day.  Fun stuff. 

So, these last few days were about getting my affairs fully in order.  There was a lot of "hurry up and wait".  We would have little flurries of activity: first, it was as people donated blood on my behalf so that I could be assured of having plenty should I need a transfusion.  (That, by the way, was one of the most amazing things that was done for me.  I kept the certificates from the blood bank.)  Then, it became pre-admission paperwork at the hospital, more blood draws for me, writing down schedules for my daughter, making sure everything was in place for me to (potentially) spend more than a week in the ICU and then on the neuro ward of the hospital.  I prepared meals, I washed clothes, I cleaned house.  I mentally prepared myself to be gone for at least two weeks. 

***May 12 is the next big date for me and May 13 is the actual anniversary date of my surgery.  Several people have approached me to let me know how they have enjoyed reading my account of this really incredible experience.  I want to thank everyone who has read one or all of my posts and I especially want to thank those of you who have spoken to me directly about it.  I am finding that writing about this has brought back memories and feelings that I had forgotten, so I have enjoyed it (if enjoyed is the correct word for writing about a life threatening and ultimately life altering experience).  I am truly humbled by your support and your friendships; I am so pleased to be writing this account a decade later, happier and healthier than I have ever been.