Biopsy Thursday and the tumor is Re-named!

Thursday, April 1, 2010 -  Here we sit in the waiting room around 8:45 am, one of the members of the neurosurgery team just came to tell us the anesthesia went well and they were now moving on to positioning and prepping for the surgery. They will make about a 1″ long incision on the left side of the skull and then drill a hole, no larger than a dime to go in to retrieve a bit of the tumor to test. We asked again and they said it will be at least a week before we get results back from the pathology lab. They said they do not push for results because it is important to get this part right. So we know that even after today, we get to learn more about patience!

Now to go back and bit and bring us up to this point.When we got home after work Wednesday ,Kellee told us he had written, recorded and posted another song. This one is called, “I Will Rest” have a listen at – http://www.myspace.com/kelleevanhemertmusic  G-ma Faithe came over right then so we listened to it together.  We then finished packing and loaded the van. Heidi and I prayed for and with Kellee while in our kitchen as the last thing we did before we would leave.  We left Pella for Iowa City @ 7:00 last night, we got a couple of miles north of town and had to turn around to get Kellee’s insurance card (and phone charger). So then we left town again @ 7:15.  On the way to Iowa City we listened to songs from two bands Kellee has recently introduced us to. One is called Rend Collective Experiment, if you have listened to any of the songs Kellee has recorded lately, one of them was a cover of one of their songs called “Movements”. They are a worship band from across the pond, from somewhere in the UK I believe. Heidi suggested to Kellee to have The Bridge Band do the song “You Bled” as it is a great song! Check them out http://www.myspace.com/rendcollectiveexperiment  We arrived @ the home of Beth & Mike where we staying last night just before 9:00. They have graciously opened their home to us, which is such a blessing to not have to worry about getting a hotel and they are just 10 minutes from the hospital! When we arrived Mike was just taking cookies out of the oven and yes they were homemade. Just a short time later, Tami arrived when stood around in the kitchen and chatted for a while. (The kitchen really is the best room in most homes!) Sometime after 10 we then went downstairs to get ready for bed. While prepping Kellee told us he really wanted to re-name the tumor. Even though the character Dwight is annoying on the show, he does kind of like him and Kellee thinks the show would not be near as good without him. Therefore, he was going to think of a new name for the tumor. Even though Heidi & I kind of liked the name Dwight, since it is Kellee’s tumor, we were OK with him wanting to change the name. He landed on George as in “George Can’t stand ya” from Seinfeld. He felt that worked better for him, so the tumor is now officially called George.  We set four separate alarms to make sure we got up on time. The alarms worked as planned, Heidi and I were up @ 4:15 and then Kellee was up @ 5:00. Tami got up a bit later as she was going with us to the hospital.

We made it to parking ramp # 2 across from Kinnick stadium (a little Hawkeye lingo for the Hawk fans there) on time and made our way into the hospital, up elevator H to the fifth floor and to pre-op admissions. We checked in and were shown to a pretty packed waiting room. After about 10 minutes Kellee was called, so Heidi & I walked with him to the pre-op area. The hallway to the prep area was full of hospital gurneys (small hospital beds on wheels) ready for the days surgery patients. We were amazed at how many there were.  Kellee was seated in a recliner in pre-op area # 15, most of them were full and we were not sure exactly how many were there. There they had him change into a gown and robe, put some compression socks on him and footies. (Kellee said he can now tell his G-pa Bob he knows what the socks are like!)

Kellee showing off compression socks in pre-op

They took vitals and eventually put 9 more of the fiducials on his head for the MRI.

Fiducials all ready for the MRI

Went then down to the Lower Level for the MRI.  As we left the pre-op area, most of the waiting patients had gone on to their medical trials and most of the gurneys were no longer in the hall. Kellee walked to the MRI.  While in for the MRI, Kellee had an I.V. inserted and he said it really wasn’t that bad this time, but he still hates needles!  Other than a bit of purse confusion  between Heidi and Tami (ask Heidi about it) the MRI went smoothly. However, we did not hear the tumor was gone. Not what we wanted,  we but we know God has a plan!  Then it was back to the fifth floor into another waiting room. An anesthesiologist came in to tell us how the go to sleep part of the procedure would go.  Then they took Kellee with them and we went to the 6th floor to the day of surgery waiting room.  There were quite a few  people were in the waiting room in support family, friends and loved ones. Some of them we had noticed in the pre-op waiting room.  And so now we, like them wait a bit more…

Heidi Just pointed out to me this Psalm she was reading while waiting in the waiting room -   Psalm 27:14 “Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.”

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.