Apr 15, 2008

You can't get rid of me that easily!

I just wanted to reach out to everyone who sent me the kind thoughts and warm wishes. It really means a lot. I also wanted to let everyone know that I'm doing great and I really fell so much better than how I did before the ice cream scoop. For those of you who are interested I have attached the full story below;About six months ago I started losing vision in my right eye and I could not stay awake no matter how hard I tried. By the end of February I had completely lost vision in my one eye and I was literally sleeping 23 hours a day. I even fell asleep in the doctor's office during a check-up. As an added bonus I had no short-term memory whatsoever. I was repeating myself and asking the same questions over and over. I was even starting to forget my family. This is when they figured there was definitely something wrong and an MRI was ordered. It turned out that I had two brain tumors. One pressing against the optic nerve and the other pressing against the pituitary gland (affecting everything from my thyroid to my sleep patterns). Thankfully an appointment was made for surgery on that Thursday and I was in for my operation the following Monday (April Fool's Day believe it or not).The operation was done at Toronto Western by Dr. Bernstein and a team of six others. During the pre-op however they discovered that there was also a cyst at the base of the skull which was also taking up room. It was decided that two teams would work at the same time (one on the tumors and one on the cyst) which cut the operation from 12 - 15 hours to 7 and a half. To make a long story short (I know - too late), after 4 hours they finally found the nodules to the tumors which were both the size of baseballs and they pulled them out through openings the size of green peas between an optic nerve and a main artery while draining the cyst at the same time.All of this was done by 7:00 p.m. and by 8:30 p.m. I was calling home to let them know I was feeling okay and not to worry. The next morning I was up having breakfast and doing my crossword puzzle as usual. Today I feel great. I feels as if I've had a tension headache for the past six months and now it's just gone. I am clear headed, I have all of the vision back in my right eye and although there is still a memory gap during the couple of months leading up to the operation, everything seems to be fine now (no more excuses). I am happy. Amy and the rest of the family have been unbelievable. It has brought a whole new strength and bond that will never be broken. I honestly think that I have had it the easiest out of everyone.Right now the best part of every day is just walking the kids the the bus stop in the morning and giving them a big hug and kiss before they go. Every day has been a great day and they are only going to get better.I hope I haven't taken up too much of you time but after all the kind words and warm wishes I wanted to give everyone a personal thank-you and update.