17. August 2007 by dangler.6.

The surgeon came out after 10 and said that the surgery went very well, with Laurie being awake for it and problems kept to a minimum.  He felt that they got 80-90% of it , even though it was large.  Chemo and radiation will follow.  So we’re in it for the long haul.

I appreciate the support so many of you have shown, but Laurie is such a kind and caring person, that it doesn’t surprise me. In the years of her being a doctor, when I’ve watched her cry and worry over the problems and deaths of her patients, I never questioned that she cared for so many.  I can’t tell you have helpful it is to have that care reflected back to her.

Thank you.

dd

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17. August 2007 by dangler.6.

The surgery nurse just called to say that everything is going well with the surgery, and that they think it will be another 5 hours before the surgery is over.  I cna’t believe the stamina the surgeon and staff must have.  I work for 8, 9 hours tops,  and I’m brain dead.  This surgery will be something like 8:30 am - 11 pm.  Madness.

 dd

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17. August 2007 by dangler.6.

IT’s 4 pm and Laurie is still in surgery.  She went into the operating room 90 minutes late and then the hospital had some problems with phone lines being cut and all surgeries got delayed for 2 more hours, so all in all, I guess it’s not too bad.  Everything seems to be going well, so I’m hoping for the best.

Thanks

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17. August 2007 by dangler.6.

Today, we were at OSU at 5 am to check Laurie in.  Turns out that the freeways are clear at that hour, just a few truckers, police, and other bleary eyed drivers looking for someplace to sleep.  Check in went fine, with Laurie reading over her chart when she got into the room and asking the nurse to add a forgotten “e” to her first name.  It reminded me of when she got her wisdom teeth pulled years ago.  Her mother had sent her with a check that covered everything, but when she got ready to go, the receptionist overcharged her.  When I got my teeth pulled, I was groggy for hours., but here was Laurie, 20 minutes after the surgery, clear-headed and arguing (through the cotton padding) with the billing person, shaking her head and saying “It’s supposed to be a $20 co-pay” (use your own version of the Brando mumble here).

That strength is why she’ll pull through this and we’ll go back to living normally again.  After all, she’s been strong enough to be my wife for 15 years, so she must have some kind of iron resolve.

The waiting room at OSU hospital is nice, but huge, like everything else at this behemoth campus.  The chairs are pretty comfortable: I’ve only been here an hour and I’ve already been able to nap in the chairs.

More later. 

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16. August 2007 by dangler.6.

After we spent today dreading tomorrow, the day of Laurie’s surgery, the operating room called at 11:30 pm to say that the surgery has to be bumped back a day. Ugh. This, after Laurie and I went to the hospital tonight to have her head partially shaved and some kind of electrodes attached. So we’re looking at how to get through tomorrow. We took the kids bowling today, hoping to have a nice day before the surgery. It went fairly well, with Evan and Becca doing better than I did at keeping it all together. Evan even bowled a strike - with the generous help of bumpers. He was very cute lugging a bowling ball up to the lane and throwing it.

What do you do before brain surgery?  Probably more preparations like setting up an intercom from the bedroom to the kitchen (what I did today) or maybe a movie. I’ll probably do some things for work, just to keep myself occupied. Nothing like administrative paperwork to sap my interest and increase my anxiety….

On the positive side, Becca got a dwarf rabbit for her birthday today, and she’s been very happy with it, holding it and saying “There, there Sweetness.”  It seems very docile and an excellent companion for her.  Ordinarily, I would have resisted buying it, but times change.  At any rate, it doesn’t have an exercise wheel like the hamsters (RIP) did, which should make it a much quieter pet.

dd

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12. August 2007 by dangler.6.

The title of this post is taken from an Elton John song introducing my favorite album of his (and they are mostly great, especially The Captain and the Kid, which I’m currently stuck on) Blue Moves. The name of the blog is stolen from Harvey Pekar’s graphic novel “Our Cancer Year” about his bout with the big C. This blog, at the suggestion of my brother, will be devoted to my wife, Laurie’s, overcoming (I fervently hope) of a brain tumor, which was discovered last Thursday, August 9th. I’m not sure what this blog will bring, but I’m supposed to be (by virtual of a few misplaced degrees in English) a writer, or at least acquainted with the language, so I’ll try to use this blog to keep track of what happens in my life and Laurie’s. The idea is that I can write here and not have to email everyone, since RSS feeds are so easy to use (and seriously, they’re all too cool).  If you’re using the Firefox browser, just look in the address line for the cute orange box-like graphic and click on it.  This will take you to a page where you can subscribe to this blog’s feed (or any others). I also highly recommend iGoogle, which acts as a feed catcher (aggregator).
It’s ironic that my brother would have suggested that I should write a blog, since I’m supposed to be the techie and the writer and he’s the accountant, but it was a good idea, much like my mother’s suggestions that we get pictures taken as soon as possible, before Laurie gets her shoulder-length hair cut before her brain surgery. So that’s what we did today: the photographer at Picture Innovations snapping away, while I steered my always-gloomy thoughts away from the possible complications or problems in the future. My original hair has been cleverly replaced with scalp, so I’ve graciously suggested to Laurie that I’ll shed my lengthy (1/8″) tresses as well, but she was unimpressed with this gesture.

More later.

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