Has anyone here had their surgery done in two stages? I went in last October to a left side 3.5cm AN. They had to cut the surgery short because of my vitals and complications which kept me in ICU for a week and the hospital for a month. Anyway, they had to leave residual tumor in there and now we're at a wait and see point. Both of my Dr's, (Pieper & LaRouere in Michigan) expect the tumor to start growing again and said I'll need another surgery then. I've had one MRI (as a baseline) after my first surgery and have a second MRI in June to see if it's growing. One brain surgery sucks, but the thought of 2 freaks me out even more. Especially since I'm still recovering from my first one. I'm 29 years old and feel beat up! Has anyone had similar circumstances?
Hello msuscottie .... I had had a 20 hour surgey in June 1979, followed by another 20 surgery in July 1979, then an 8 hour surgey in 1980, followed by a 6 hour surgery in 1981. So yes stages can occur. My surgeon said, "Tumors only grow." So as long as there were residuals he chose to operate. The first two took out the bulk of the tumor. A piece embedded in the brain stem was left behind. This was removed in the third operation. However my surgeon told me that my tumor was so massive it had sent runners (much like octopus legs) out to other parts of the brain. He had removed all but one that had gone up through the Dura and had broken off when he was attempting to extract it. This led to my last "Stage", where he went in from the top of my skull to get that tiny bit of "Tenticle" left behind from the third surgery. 3.5 cm stikes me as fairly large tumor for these more enlightened days, so yes I can understand multiple surgeries. As I recall my surgeon told me we stopped after 20 hours because both he and I were essentially exhausted. I was 35 years old in 1979. Yup most scary event of my life waiting for those surgeries. The last quarter century has seem marvelous advances in medicine, especially neurosurgery, and of course the ANA was not there in 1979, as it came about because of the lack of post operative care available. You have a wonderful family that is there for you during this challenge in your life.
My prayers are with you ... Namasté
                         MikeC
"In the valley of the blind, the one-eyed man is king."
