My 20-year-old daughter, Hannah, had brain surgery last Tuesday! Yes, that's right -- BRAIN SURGERY! (Photo at right shows her scar, right behind her ear. She took these pictures herself, with her computer, to post on Facebook!)
A few days before I went to Florida, she accidentally hit her forehead while on a cleaning binge and it bled like crazy, so she and her dad went to the hospital to get it checked. Well, they did a CT scan to be safe, and then called them into the room with the pictures up on a computer and said, "The bump on your forehead is fine. But this -- and they pointed to a little 2 cm "spot" in her cerebellum, in the back of the head -- shouldn't be here."
The hubby and Hannah knew about this before I went to Florida, but elected not to tell me until I got back. I will be forever grateful for that.
So, we ended up with a neurosurgeon who told us we had two options: he said he could "take it out safely and with few risks" if we do it now, or we could wait three months and take more pictures to see if it grows. Hannah said, "Take it out," which turned out to be the right choice because when they got it out, they said it's definitely a tumor but they don't know if it's cancer or not. They're checking. But a followup MRI showed they "got it all."
Anyway, I
've been sort of a nervous wreck, especially on Tuesday, but I'm better now that I know Hannah's OK. She's still in a lot of pain (which is normal, says the doc), but it should start getting better in a day or two. (See forced smile at left. She is awesome.)But here's the thing: we feel like it's a BLESSING that Hannah hit her head. Otherwise, the tumor would have been undetected until who knows when (she had no symptoms whatsoever), and the ultimate surgery likely would have been more complicated and risky. So, thanks be to God, who is definitely taking care of us, big time.
As for me, I had chemo #7 today, I walked a mile or so afterwards, and I'm not feeling too bad. A little tired, 'cause my white blood cell count is pretty low, so I've elected not to visit my daughter at the hospital today. But we talk on the phone, and she's got ZILLIONS of friends visiting, and calling, and texting, so hopefully that's keeping her spirits up.
Thanks for your prayers and concern! So far, so good ...
Until next time ...
P
3 comments:
Boy, the Ross family gives new meaning to the term "when it rains it pours!" Glad to hear that Hannah's surgery went well and the Dr. was able to remove all of the tumor. Hope the test results come back benign real soon. God sure works in mysterious ways.
I was wondering why we hadn't heard from you.
Michelle, I should update the blog 'cause we just found out tonight that the tumor was benign and Hannah's coming home TOMORROW! (Days early ...)
Catching up, Paula. Wow. Thoughts and prayers are with you.
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