Thursday, March 27, 2008

6:00 p.m. Update

Praise the Lord for his guiding hand! All right fellas and fellettes, here is the latest and it is good news. I happened to be unavoidably out of the waiting room at the time Dr. Yosher, the neurosurgeon, came in to give us the latest news. Here is what I gather from the ecstatic group in the waiting room. Some of Dr. Yosher's part is/was the brain. That is what they have been working on so far. This tumor has been pushing its way to the brainstem, actually compressing that area about more than twice the normal space. Dr. Yosher said they have gotten everything away from the brain stem and any vital (life sustaining) areas. Now they are going to get to work on the jugular bulb, which is Dr. Oghalai's part for the time being. They are going to leave some of the tumor around the nerves controlling swallowing and facial motor control in order to save those nerves. What that means is Tracy will potentially have better recovery and rehabilitation success. Her face is not likely to droop meaning there would not have to be a follow-up surgery to try and connect or rebuild nerves. She will likely still have difficulty swallowing due to trauma to the area as they worked around it. However, trauma is better than destruction; there is expected rehabilitation. It is also important to appreciate that the nerves mentioned are working "now". But we're not done yet.
The inscision was much longer than anyone expected, about 2" or 3" down the neck. Apparently, this tumor is now recognized as "the biggest" that some of the doctors have ever seen. However, everything seems to be working for the good (sounds familiar, doesn't it - Romans 8:28).
More good news; Christopher and Rachael just arrived. Gotta go give hugs. Tell you more if you're waiting up.

Jeff

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Jeff and family, Fantastic news. Just checking in every few hours and continuing to keep you guys in our prayers. Pat and Sue Shaw

Unknown said...

This is all great news. We are back here in Chappell Hill prayerfully standing in the gap. I just talked with Tom O'Connor and gave him the updated good news. Love this blogging thing. Thanks for keeping us in the loop. Lana & Charles McDaniel