Thursday – Back to Iowa City, 2010

Thursday, March 18 – We left for Iowa City @ 6:45 a.m. to be there in time for an 8:30 appointment in the Neurosurgery clinic.  We checked in at the clinic shortly after 8:30 and were in exam room #12 by 8:40. We were first met by a nurse named Lynn who reviewed with us a packet of information about what we would be doing today and tomorrow. We learned that Kellee would not be admitted to the hospital on today as we thought, but that we would need to be at the hospital @ 5:30 am on Friday.  Next we had a resident doctor come in and go over a few things with us as well. Then and other doctor came in to apply about 10 plastic disks called “fiducels” (fuh-doo-culs) on the left side of Kellee’s head. For about half of them, spots needed to be shaved. These were to be used during the MRI. The fiducels along with the images from the MRI would act as a GPS system for the doctors to perform the biopsy on Friday. Next we went to the MRI. This MRI took only about half the time of the one the previous Thursday and Kellee said the MRI machine was smaller, only his head was inserted. He was poked with needles two times, but he said the person who did it, was good because it did not hurt nearly as bad as some of the pokes last week. (Did I mention Kellee doesn’t like needles?)  After the MRI is was off to the pre-anesthesiology appointment. The doctor there told us what to expect with the anesthesiology tomorrow. Then it was back to the neurosurgery clinic, exam room 3 this time,  to meet with the doctor who will perform the biopsy on Friday.  He told us he believed the tumor was from the  Pineal Gland.  He  then told us he decided to order some more blood tests and it turns out some more tests on the fluid from the Lumbar Puncture, if there was still fluid to test. They were going to see if they could locate the fluid, otherwise there could possibly be another Lumbar Puncture. So, Kellee had to have more blood drawn, another needled stick, but fortunately there was still fluid to test so another Lumbar Puncture was not needed. By this time it was after 1:00 and we were told we had 1-1/2 hours until results would be known. We went to the Melrose cafeteria in the Pappajohn Pavillion to eat a mid day meal. By 2:30 we went back to the clinic. Soon we were the only ones in the waiting room, so I tried to change the channel on the waiting room TV to the NCAA tournament. A nurse behind the counter told me don’t do that! But she changed the channel for me. We just started watching and we were called into exam room #8 to wait for the results. We watched some of the games for nearly two hours and then the nurse came in to tell us the tests were still not complete. She told us we could leave and we would be called with the results.

So we left and went to the friend of Heidi’s sister to hunker down for the night. We planned to order Pizza and watch the UNI game. We had the house to ourselves and the family was gone until Friday for Spring Break. We moved everything in and settled in front of the TV at about 5:00, just when the tournament coverage took an hour break. Kellee and I dozed until about 6:00 when Kellee’s phone rang. It was one of the neurosurgeons calling to say the biopsy was being postponed until next week! There was one more test to be performed on the spinal fluid, but the fluid had to be sent out for testing. They will call on Friday to re-schedule the biopsy, if needed. Our initial reaction was to be a bit upset and question why more waiting, but quickly we realized the is obviously a reason for it and the doctors are doing all they can to prevent the need for the brain surgery.  God has a plan! We had to call Heidi’s sister who was on her way up from St. Louis and tell her not to come, she turned around in Hannibal, MO. We then got back in the van and made are way back home. At least we can sleep in our own beds tonight.

The First Night

Friday, March 12, 2010 – I woke up at 3:00 am and could not back to sleep, so I decided to get up and do some searching on the Internet about brain tumors. The neurosurgeon said we may want to do some investigating online. He told us there were four possible areas of the brain this tumor could have come from: thalamus, Pineal Gland, tegmentum (tectal plate) or the 3rd ventricle.  He suggested we go to sites such as WebMD, Mayo Clinic, John Hopkins and he said believe it or not Wikipedia has good brain tumor info. He told us we would find some encouraging information and also some scary stuff. He was right. I searched and read until 5:30. I then took my wife’s suggestion and did some exercising om the elliptical.

We got ready for work and my wife decided to call her dad to let him know. She shared the news and said he was crying on the phone and had to stop talking. Heidi said she made it through the entire conversation without crying but started crying when he dad did. As we left for work, my wife felt a bit uneasy for leaving our son home by himself for the morning. On our way to work we stopped at my dad’s on the way to work. My sister and I take turns going to his place and helping him put on his compression socks. I told him about the brain tumor. He was saddened by the news and did not really know how to take it or what to say.

My wife and I work at the same place and had discussed what we were going share and with who. We both sent out an email to a few co-workers and some people others outside of work. The replies we received were mostly encouraging. I made it through the morning without too many tears but it was not easy. My mind was not on work, fortunately I was able to keep busy most of the day.

Friday a bit before noon, Kory came home for Spring Break and Kerry left for his spring break trip.

Friday Night we stayed home and Kellee went to hang out with some friends.