Wednesday, August 08, 2007

Craniotomy update...


Matt, waiting for surgery - those green things on his head are markers to be used during surgery (they take MRI's with the markers and then the surgeons have a 'map' to know exactly where they are.


Now it is Wednesday. His surgery was scheduled for 1:30. They said it is typical for the OR to be running late and today was no exception. We didn't leave his room until almost 4:00, and it took until almost 5:00 for us to talk with the surgeon and anesthesiologist.

We received an update at 6:30 and they had just started opening the brain. He had taken the anesthesia well and his vital signs were strong.

At 8:00 we were told the surgery was going well, but they hadn't reached the tumor yet.

9:00, we were just told that they had started closing the skull. Dr. Walker will be out to speak with us soon.

9:30. Dr. Walker came in and told us it didn't look like a Germinoma (the type of tumor we were hoping for). They took a small piece to biopsy and also removed a blood clot. We are hopeful that by relieving a tiny bit of the pressure, Matthew will regain his short term memory. It will be tomorrow before we know very much, though, and Monday before we know for sure what type of tumor it is.

Thank you again for your prayers!

1 comment:

Katie said...

This picture was the hardest for me to see---when he still has his hair and no scar, just a kid in a hospital bed at the start of a long journey. (((hugs)))