I sent out a "Family & Friends" email with the following information tonight, but for those of you that aren't on my list or lost the email, here it is. Also, if you want to subscribe, email me.
I come to you with a heavy heart. On Tuesday, my mother had a MRI and they
have found a tumor on her brain. They are 95% certain that it is
MENINGIOMA. This is a benign or non-cancerous tumor. That is the good
news. The bad news is that it is in a deep location on the back upper left
part of her brain near the brain stem. It has been blocking spinal fluid
and has been the cause of her short term memory loss and speech problems.
She will have surgery, tentatively, on January 14th of 2004.
The difficulty lies in the position and the how the tumor has attached itself to her brain. Because meningioma is a very slow growing type of tumor, she has had this for a while and it has had time to merge itself into her blood vessels. There is a very high chance of vascular blood loss.
We had just made plans for my mom to fly out to Los Angeles for Christmas
with us. She was supposed to fly here on Monday the 22nd and return on
January 1st. The surgeon has made the determination that it is unsafe for
her to fly. She cannot now come to visit and mom, Kristina and I are all
very disappointed. However, I will be making arrangements to travel back to
Indiana for her surgery.
I covet and appreciate all your prayers for my mom and the entire family's
schedule and finances. As you know, I still do not have a full-time job and
will not have any sick days to fall back on. Kristina's job is providing us
with our insurance and she will not be able to travel with me due to her
pregnancy. For those who don't know, my mom's name is Joy Bowyer and she is
54.
For those with weak stomachs, you probably won't want to read on from this
point as I share some specifics of the procedure.
Mom will check into the hospital 1 day before the operation. They will prep
her with medication and will shave her head. The actual operation on
January 14th will last approximately 5 - 6 hours. The surgeon will make a
L-shaped incision on my mom's scalp and they will remove a portion of her
skull. They will hopefully remove the entire tumor, but if her brain tissue
does not respond well in the procedure or if they cannot safely remove all
of the meningioma they may leave a portion to reduce the chance of greater
damage. When they have finished the removal of tissue, they will replace
the portion of bone they removed and suture her scalp. She will be in ICU
for 1 - 2 days and stay in the hospital for 5 - 7 days. Someone will also
have to be with her for at least 10 days after she is released.
Worst case scenario during surgery would be hemorrhaging or intracranial
bleeding. Worst case after would be 20% chance of stroke, and possibility
of a vegetative state. Other possible side effects are personality
changes, severe headaches, nausea or vomiting, transient seizures, some
increased weakness and speech difficulty.
She has been prescribed the following medicines: Dilantin, Pepcid and
Decadrone. She had been ordered to stop taking Aspirin and Daypro, but she
can continue taking Welbutrin SR and Ultram.
They estimate the percentage of fatality at 5%. That is a very low
percentage, but 0 is much better. Thanks again for any prayer and support
you can offer. If you need any additional details, please email me.