Scared

The doctors said the surgery was the way to see what was going on inside my brain. The neurosurgeon showed me my MRI scans showing me the 2 spots that he was most concerned about. One was the tumor the other was a cyst above the tumor. He said the he could drain the cyst and take a look at the tumor to see what could be removed. I asked what that meant and he explained that depending on the color tumor determines what he could remove safely without causing any damage to my brain. Apparently Tumors can be the same color as your brain... who knew? I knew something had to help me get back to some normalcy.

The  Surgery Day arrives early on a Friday morning. My mom and my sister came up from San Antonio and joined my wife in providing support.I get prepped in my lovely surgery clothes I hand out letters I had written in case the worst happens. The staff comes in and wheels my bed to the operation room. The last thing I remember thinking was me in place of the guy in The Operation game, the drugs kick in and I am out. The surgery lasted about 7 hours. When I woke I had all sorts of tubes and wires connected all over. A day later I was transferred to my own room from the ICU. I felt like I had slept forever, but I am sure it was just a few hours.

Monday comes and so does my surgeon he tells us that due to the location of the tumor and how deep it had grown into the brain he was only able to remove part  of the tumor. I would also need physical therapy to help regain use of my left leg and arm. He continued to tell us that the pathology reports showed that the tumor was malignant grade 3 tumor called an anaplastic astrocytoma or AA3 for short. Being told you have cancer is shocking. You don't know what to say so you fight back emotions you try and be strong because there is no time to be scared you have to fight for your life.