Oct 21, 2008

I Needed That Like I Needed Another Hole In The Head

You know, it's kind of funny; I don't remember running over God's cat at all that day. You think I would've felt a bump in the road or I would have seen a brilliant flash of glorious light and hair float up to the Heavens. But nope. Nothing. Well, I think I ran over God's cat anyway. At least that's my theory. It must have happened sometime in March because since my operation on April Fool's Day, things have been kind of going down hill. I can't say it hasn't been interesting though. God's got a great sence of humour.As you know, I did go in on April Fool's Day for my first operation to remove the tumors, and the plan since then has been to get what's left by radiation. Well there's been a slight change in the plan. Last week started getting bad again and I was regressing to where I was before the operation so they sent me in for another CT & MRI. Turns out the cyst had grown back at thge base of my brain and was interfering with the radiation treatments on the tumors. Something had to be done. So they gave my the release forms to sign on the Wednesday for another operation on Thursday. Now does everyone remember what they most important lesson we were all supposed to learn when filling out hospital forms from last time? That's right: READ THE FINE PRINT. Guess who didn't? This is what I found out the next morning just before goping into the operating room. Turns out they intended to drill a bunch of holes in my skull (10 all together) to drain the cyst and I was to be awake for it all. Good times. You know that feeling when you read something and you immediately go "WAIT! WHAT!?! oh God... If I thought I could've carried that bed I strapped to on my back out of the hospital I would have. But I went in.I will spare evryone the details but let's just say I could hear the drill and feel the vibrations. There was a lot of yelling. By me. Anyhoo, 4 hours later I came out. They had drained the cyst and I was recovering. They even gave me some "Hillbilly Heroin" (Oxycodone) for the pain. Which is just great because now on top of everything else I have to keep my eyes out for the Olson twins trying to mug me for my stash.That was all on Thursday. The next day I went back down of another CT so they could map out my new brain for the next round of treatments in case anything had moved. I guess they just wanted to make sure that the little squirrel was still on his wheel. To do this of couese they had to put my head frame back on so I was in the exact position that they wanted me. Funny thing about frames; they have to be put on extremely tight so they don't move. Well they put the frame over my head and then attached the velcro straps to tighten it. There was one nurse on each side of me with a hand full of velcro and on three they started pulling. Same as usuall except the straps went right over where they had drilled not 24 hours ago. They stopped pretty quickly when I let them know in my own gentle way that there was some slight discomfort. It was at this time that another nurse came in and said that a baby had just been brought over from Sick Kid's and need the room. We were going to have to wait an hour and try again. At this point I just wanted to go home and I told my Dad this. This is when he gave me some of the best advise ever. He just looked at me calmly and said: "Look, now you know what you have to do. You just have to do it." He was right. I can't argue with that. We went out for a walk and an hour later they tried again. I would like to tell you that it was no problem and I was very brave. I would like to but I can't. They tried again and I just couldn't do it. They finally gave up and decided to wait until Monday for the swelling to go down.Well I went down yesterday and they did it no problem. They rescanned my and last night I got a call from PMH to say that everything looked good and they can continue with my treatments as planned. So I'm on my way back down this morning to get zapped. I don't really want to go. As a matter of fact I don't want to go at all but as a wise man once said to me ÈNow that I know what I have to do, I just have to do it."Thanks for all of the calls and emails. I'm actually feeling a lot better now and I'll keep you all posted.Sean.