Hello All,
Yesterday was Chelsea's part 2 of her AN surgery. It was another long day for all of us. She went in for surgery at 7:30 am amd came out of the OR into recovery at 9:30 pm. Part 1= 16 hours and part 2=14 hours. Total AN surgery time =30 hours. The surgeons said this tumor was so old that it was almost as hard as rock. They are amazed at this along with another strange finding. The head and neck surgeon said that the ear canals are at a 40 degree angle in the head but with her right canal (where tumor was) it was at a 90 degree angle and this was not due to tumor. This was the first time he has seen this in 22 years of doing surgery.
In spite of everything that has taken place, 2 AN surgeries, shunt surgery, pnemonia in right lung, left lung collapse-twice, and a tracheostomy, she is doing great. They had to leave behind a small amount of the tumor which will be adressed in 4-6 months with radiation. Her nerves are intact but some have been affected like the vocal cord and swallowing nerve and the right eye is not tracking to the left. Her right side hearing is expected to be greatly diminished. Some of these are things that can improve when the swelling goes down and with time. She has been in ICU now for 18 days and they expect another 4-5 days before she can move into a regular room then she'll go to a rehab room for a while to make sure we all know how to deal with the trach and feeding tube that they will be putting in her stomach area. Right now they feed her through a tube in her nose. All this is something my we can deal with. We are just greatful she is still here with us.
Chelsea had shown incredible strength through all this. She just keeps her focus on each challange ahead of her and has never whined or complained. Although, when she finally sees that her beautiful long blond hair is all shaved in patches I'm sure she'll start whinning. You know, thats whats important to a 17 year old. She really doesn't realize the threat this tumor was to her life as it was so greatly compressing the brain stem
Thanks for the thoughts, prayers, and good wishes. My prayers are with you all as you are going through these difficult times.
Chelsmom
