Ben came out of surgery. YAHOOO!!!
Short version: The surgeon said that it went as well as they could have possibly planned.
Long version:
They made a U-shaped incision starting by the ear ~ish and up arond to the middle of the head, moved back the skin, made a 3 to 4 inch hole in the skull, cut a u-shaped hole in the dura (sp?) to get to the tumor.
There was enough pressure that as soon as they started cutting the dura the tumor started to try to come out on its own so they held it in place while they finished making the incision in the dura. Again, there was a lot of pressure so they went to the back where the cyst surrounding the tumor was and began there. Once they had cut into the cyst it released a lot of the pressure and allowed the tumor to settle back in. They were able to remove the tumor. The outside was very hard and it was around 3 1/2 inches in diameter ~ish -- pretty big for a little guy.
Long version:
They made a U-shaped incision starting by the ear ~ish and up arond to the middle of the head, moved back the skin, made a 3 to 4 inch hole in the skull, cut a u-shaped hole in the dura (sp?) to get to the tumor.
There was enough pressure that as soon as they started cutting the dura the tumor started to try to come out on its own so they held it in place while they finished making the incision in the dura. Again, there was a lot of pressure so they went to the back where the cyst surrounding the tumor was and began there. Once they had cut into the cyst it released a lot of the pressure and allowed the tumor to settle back in. They were able to remove the tumor. The outside was very hard and it was around 3 1/2 inches in diameter ~ish -- pretty big for a little guy.
The initial frozen look at the tumor showed that it was not completely benign. Though the outside was hard the center had a lot more "cellularity" than they would have hoped. They cleared out all of the tumor and there was also a a small part of the dura that had been invaded by the tumor. They removed that too.
Lastly they sewed everything up. They replaced the piece of the dura with a patch, sewed up the rest, replaced and sutured the skull, sewed up the scalp. We will have an MRI in the morning to ensure that they got everything. They felt very positive about that because of the hardness of the outside of the tumor but better safe than sorry.
Next will be recovery. The brain was REALLY compressed and pushed over so now it can settle back into place. There will be some swelling and they will watch that very closely over the next couple of days. There is a tumor committee that meets next Wednesday where they will go over all of the details and we will have the detailed pathology back then as well. At that point we will make some decisions regarding the next steps.
When we came into the room I think both Cari and I had visions of the worst but there lay our little boy. He was blinking and semi awake. He seemed to recognize mom a little and was moving his arms and legs around. Whew . . .
Today is a good day. . . .
We're so glad it went well. We've been thinking about you all day. You'll continue to be in our prayers! We love you!
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing - today is a good day! as stated above you will continue to be in our prayers and thoughts - Barbara
ReplyDeleteWe are so relieved. He looks absolutely amazing! I cannot imagine what a long day you all have had. I hope that things continue to get better and that you are able to rest. We continue to pray and love you all to pieces!!!
ReplyDeleteGod Bless you! He looks like a little angel! Oh what a wonderful blessing. I am glad things went well in surgery! Try to rest, you must all be exhausted. My thoughts & prayers will be for you in the coming days - all my love...
ReplyDeleteI'm not one to ADMIT that I pray, as it doesn't really fit in my "be a man" rules (not that any of these rules are written out), but ever since I found out, I've been praying like crazy...
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