The next step, brain surgery.

Originally posted: December 13, 2015

The Hospital:

Friday Nov 27 around 7 pm:
We arrive at the hospital's ER and they were waiting for us. Derek is examined by the doctor on duty and had another small seizure. I was glad the doctor saw it. From the CT scan, it was obvious they needed to install a EVD (External Ventricular Drain), a tube that would drain the extra liquid that is not being drained by the body.
They would have done surgery that night, but he ate some food at the other ER, so the surgery was postponed until 8 hours after he ate. Derek was checked into the PICU.

Saturday November 28th 2015:
The pediatric neurosurgeon installed the EVD (drain tube) Saturday morning. Now Derek has a tube coming out of his head draining brain fluid into a bag. So many tubes coming out of this kid. The intracranial pressure in a kid his age should be between 5 and 20. His was at 47. Dangerously high.
We had such an outpouring of people give well wishes to Derek it was amazing how many people love him.

Sunday November 29th 2015:
Today was a rest day for Derek (and the rest of us). It has been such a whirlwind since Friday. It has been non-stop doctors, nurses, and who knows else getting details for planning the upcoming days. They all were very nice and I felt like they understood our situation.
Again, another day of many people caring so much for Derek. We are blessed.

Monday November 30 2015:
Another CT scan today for Derek. They wanted to check the tube and start preparing for the upcoming Brain surgery. Another parade of doctors and nurses.

Tuesday December 1st 2015:
He had his first of many MRIs. It was a 3 Tesla (a powerful one) MRI to get a detailed image of his brain for his brain surgery now scheduled for Thursday

Wednesday December 2nd 2015:
Today was the day before the big surgery and you could tell everyone was getting prepared. We talked to the neurosurgeon about the surgery and what he plans to do. He showed us lots of detail with the MRI and some good news, it seems like there is an easy path to extract the tumor. Some bad news, the tumor is located on a very sensitive area of the brain, the Thalamus. I guess most areas of the brain can be “scraped”, but the Thalamus is an extra sensitive area that will result in permanent damage if extra caution is not taken.

Thursday December 3rd 2015:
Today is the big day. Today is the day of the brain surgery. Derek could eat nothing the night before so he was hungry in the morning. But Derek was more than ready for the surgery by this point. His head had been full of pressure for weeks now and they are going to remove the tumor.
Surgery was about 6 hours long and the surgeon removed all that he felt was safe removing. Next they send part of the tumor off to be tested. Derek is recovering well.