Terrified with all this

[Mary More]

Hi everyone, an update. As I said before I was having second thoughts about my surgery on October 28th. Or Wether I would be a candidate for GK or another type of radiation. Lucky for me, my nephew is studying medicine here in Montreal at McGill university and was able to speak to one of his professors who just happened to be the Radio-oncologist at the Montreal Neurological Institute, where I am scheduled for surgery . this Dr. Offered to have a consultation with me on such short notice ( he knew I needed a radio-oncologist's opinion in order to make up my mind and not wonder "what if".
  Anyway, I met with him today, he is such a warm and caring doctor, before I even met him he had already studied my MRI cds and read the reports. He told me that even though my AN was not very large it was already compressing my brain stem quite a bit and had already shifted my brain ( cerebellum ) and because I already had symptoms, he strongly believes that surgery is my best option because I need treatment NOW before my squatter ( tumour) causes serious damage, also cystic tumour don't respond as well to radiation. Radiation although a great option for many, was not for me because it would swell the tumour slightly initially putting more pressure on the brain stem, and that radiation would take to long to get a result (if I did) Time in his opinion that I don't have to waste. Also if radiation didn't work it make a very delicate operation even more  delicate for the surgeons. If the tumour is not fully removed and it starts to regrow then radiology would be a good option for me, but for now I need to get the squatter (tumour) out.

I guess I knew in my heart that surgery was my real only option, I just needed to be sure. All this in a nut shell to say. My squatter is being evicted Monday.

Mary

[MDemisay]

Dear Mary,

It is good that you have confidence in your doctor! That is in my opinion more than half the conflict.

 I am a prayerful sort, would you be offended if I prayed for the surgery to be all that you wanted it to be?

Good luck and settle in for a hopefully peaceful recovery.

PM me if you need to and don't worry. We will all be there for you to discuss frustrations that you may feel afterwards. You may not feel well enough to keep in front of a computer, don't worry. Have a restful weekend (if possible) we shall be here all weekend.

A positive attitude going in to surgery does wonders. I found it helpful to keep a pad of paper by my bed in case I thought of anything during the night. Try to get some  good restful sleep!



Peace.

Mike

[Crazycat]

Mary,

I know how you feel. I went through the mill myself. But you'll get through it. Read through my archived postings for more information. I've been posting here since just after my surgery in 2005, so there's a great deal to read through, including my surgical report which can be found here:

http://www.anausa.org/smf/index.php?topic=5342.msg48050#msg48050

To reference the backlog of posts archived by any user, click on the username/avatar and then click on "show posts" under the picture.

Good luck with your treatment and recovery.

Paul

[Mary More]

Thank you Jim for those very encouraging words. I am glad to hear that although you went trough the wringer you are back to being yourself. I hope to fallow your positive lead.
Thank you
Mary

[Mary More]

Paul thank you for the link, I will defiantly check it out.
I'm soo glad I found you guys, I don't feel as alone.
Thank you
Mary