Rough night but better day!

Well Marc had a rough night last night. He seemed to be in a lot of pain and the morphine just didn't seem to help much. He was restless and even tried to get out of bed during the night. He slept for about an hour all night. He got clear liquids for breakfast and lunch today and a soft diet for dinner. He didn't eat much but he was sure glad to get some fluids in besides those in the IVs. His appetite is returning as Steve is on his way to the hospital now with a special order strawberry milkshake for Marc. He was able to sit on the edge of the bed, much to the nurses dismay, as he was still ordered to be on bedrest and was able to stand beside the bed while his bed linens were changed. He wants up more and will pester them until they give in, this I know first hand! He is planning on walking in the hall tomorrow.

I saw his incision for the first time today and realize now why he has been so uncomfortable. The incision is about 9 inches long and crescent shaped extending from in front of his ear lobe to his mid frontal scalp. It is a very impressive incision.

Steve showed up with more than just a strawberry milk shake; he now has much less hair. Brayden helped Steve with a trim tonight and now his head is as bald as a baby's behind! I have included a picture of my two special boys, they are quite a pair.

We are hoping for a quieter and more restful night tonight and a better day tomorrow.

Post-op note - 11/12/08

Marc made it through surgery fine. He was in surgery from 7 am to 1:30 pm and finally got to the ICU around 2:30. They let us in about 3 pm. He is still really groggy and seems to be in a lot more pain with this surgery than he was last. According to the neurosurgeon the post-op CT scan looked good. We are staying with him, except when they kick us out of ICU, 6pm to 8pm and 6 am to 8am, and will post any changes when they occur. Please continue to keep Marc in your prayers.

More in the morning . . .

Ugh!

Surgery was rescheduled to Wednesday morning at 7 a.m. because the Dr. had an emergency surgery come in. When the Dr. came in at 2:30 and said it would be Wednesday morning Marc said "Great, I'm going to get a cheeseburger!" So we will let you all know something Wednesday after the surgery. If all goes well, he should be out of surgery and in a room by 1 p.m.

Until Wednesday . . .

Getting ready for round 2

Marc said that I had to get rid of the picture on the header of the blog and put something that looked better, so here it is. We are getting ready to head to the hospital for the second surgery and will be glad when it is over! Surgery is supposed to start at 11:45, that is if they are on time.

Will update the blog after surgery. . .

Scheduling consult for second opinion at MD Anderson

For those of you who have asked, we have been moving forward on seeing someone at MD Anderson for a second opinion on the treatment of the GBM. Our son, Steve, has a friend who's father is a neurosurgeon in Ohio and he has a friend who is a neurosurgeon at MD Anderson. Well, through their diligent efforts, we have made progress on getting an appointment to confirm that the treatment plan we have is a good one. Today I requested that the pathology tissue samples be sent to MD Anderson for review. After MD Anderson receives the samples, we can schedule an appointment. I have all of the records and MRI films that we will take for the appointment and I am to call next week after Marc is discharged to schedule the appointment. We think we are going in the right direction but it never hurts to double check. The oncologist that we have trained at MD Anderson and follows their protocols, so we feel pretty good about it; on the otherhand we are glad to get an appointment to either confirm or dispute the treatment plan.

More on Monday after the surgery . . .

Encouraging news

Marc & I saw the radiation oncologist today and were very encouraged. He told us that Marc has several things in his favor: his age, the fact that he regained the strength in the right side back so quickly after surgery, the fact that his speech continues to improve and most importantly that the surgeon resected the entire tumor and didn't just take part of it. He told us that Marc has a very good chance of beating this tumor. He uses image guided radiation therapy which uses CT imaging to guide the smallest amout of radiation to the area needed. The plan is to have 7 weeks, 5 days a week of radiation/chemo. The chemo is by tablet and he will take 1 tablet daily on each day that he has radiation therapy, then continue the chemo 1 day a week for 1 year. We are scheduled to begin the radiation/chemo regimen on December 1st.

The radiation oncologist recommended that Marc have the pituitary tumor removed prior to starting the radiation therapy. He felt that having the surgery now would give him the best chance of restoring his vision as now he has no central vision, just peripheral vision. The vision loss is due to the pituitary tumor's pressure on the optic chiasm (see the above diagram to help visualize the problem).

Long story short, Marc is scheduled to have the pituitary tumor removed on Monday morning next week. He should be in ICU for about 3 days, although he hopes it will be less.

Please continue to keep Marc in your prayers. I will again post daily while we are in the hospital.

More on Monday . . .

Getting more active, or should I say doing too much

We had a good weekend, much better than the last two weekends! Marc is feeling better and is having trouble sitting still. I have to watch him to keep him from doing things he shouldn't be doing. He carried the plywood that we had covered the windows with during Hurricane Ike out to the curb! I can't take my eyes off him for one minute. How he did it without me knowing it is beyond me. You can bet that I am watching him closer now.

We were able to go to our Grandson Brayden's baseball game on Saturday. It was nice to get out and enjoy the game (his team won). We were also able to join a group of friends for dinner Saturday evening. We had been scheduled to go camping with them this weekend; since that wasn't possible it was good to see everyone.

We see the oncologist tomorrow, so we hope to know more about the plan for treatment. We also hope to schedule an appointment at MD Anderson for a second opinion sometime later this week. We want to make sure that we know all of the available options and do everything we can to beat this!

I've included a picture of Marc, Marcia and the three grandchildren taken on Halloween.

More later . . .