Patience-my unripe Fruit

I am impatient. I like instant results and answers and I like definitive plans of action. I did not get those today with my initial surgical consult, though I did get to see my brain (MRI scan) and tumor and that was kind of cool. I have to wait another week before any plan is official. In my naivete I was expecting it to be like my gall bladder surgery where they tell me it needs to come out and BOOM surgery appointment scheduled and good to go. Just a little different here with a growth about the size of Brazil nut and important veins in the area around it.


So i officially probably have a meningioma (the docs gotta leave room for that 1% just in case), which in case you are wondering is not officially a brain tumor since it has no brain matter as part of the tumor, and I might have surgery to remove it or have radiation treatment or they might just leave it alone. The best part is it may or may not be what is causing my headaches. Now that you have the politician answer here's what I actually know and also my impressions:


There are 3 basic treatment options with my kind of tumor: surgery, radiation, combo of the former 2, and to leave the tumor alone. My impression is the brain man is leaning towards option 3. So what does this mean? It means I have to undergo another procedure called a venogram (to map the veins of the tumor and surrounding brain area), then have as much of the tumor mass as possible removed by surgery, and destroy more by radiation. I apparently have an unusual tumor in that it has tentacles (not his word, it's mine and I don't don't know how else to describe it) that are also growing across the top of my brain--think moss on the side of a tree. Surgery will require a 4-6 day hospital stay with a couple days in ICU. No functions (speech, walking, etc) should be affected by the removal of the tumor and rehab will not be required. There is always a slim chance that it is malignant but they won't know that until after pathology is done on the tumor.

Needless to say I'm pretty tired right now and a little disappointed and frustrated that more didn't get accomplished.