Surgery Successful

It's 12:28 and I just got back to our apartment. It was a VERY LONG day. We arrived at 5:00 AM. At 7:10 they wheeled her into the operating room. I went for a walk and got back about 8:25. At 9:00 the attendant in the family waiting room came to tell me that they had just started the surgery. Apparently, those first two hours in the OR were "prep" for the surgery! At 2:45 they told me things were going well and I'd get another update at 5:00. At 4:00 they told me the surgery was done and she was going to recovery. I spoke with the surgeons briefly at 5:20. They said "She looks great! Everything went great!" The tumor was not a schwannoma, but some unknown tumor (still benign) made from the nerve tissue of the trigeminal nerve. They are sending it to the path lab to figure out what it is. They said she would be able to come home tomorrow, after having another MRI. We will have to return next Tuesday for the packing in her nose to be removed.

I then went outside to call Sam and Nikko and Bill and returned to the waiting area, where I did not hear anything more until 8:00. At that time they sent me to another building in the hospital (across a bridge, down many halls...you know the drill) only to find they'd sent me to the wrong floor/wing/building!! By 8:20 I located her in the Critical Care Neurosurgical Unit at Presby Hospital. She's feeling pretty rough this evening - "uncomfortable" is the medical term, I believe. The nurse on the unit was very kind and allowed me to stay three hours past visiting hours, kicking me out at midnight, much to Tracy's chagrin. All her vital signs were great, she's drinking water and complaining of a headache (no kidding!!!) but otherwise doing fine. They still say she will be able to be discharged tomorrow, so here's hoping.

We'll try to call folks over the weekend. It's next to impossible in the hospital because the cell phone reception is virtually non-existent inside the building. I'm planning on getting back over there early-ish in the morning. The nurse said visiting hours don't start till 11:00 but if I got there an hour or so earlier than that they'd let me in anyway. More tomorrow night, hopefully a little earlier than this!

Denise