Mid Fossa Scheduled 3/3 with Dr Friedman

[moe]

Surgery today for Kevin,
Prayers for a successful surgery!
Maureen

[stephanie_megan]

So far so good.  Just saw Dr. Friedman and he said the ABR test is showing good results.  They were able to save the hearing :-)  They were able to get the whole tumor out, no "snippets" left behind.  Also said had a great view of the facial nerve. 

Only negative is that they feel he's a higher risk of spinal fluid leakage so they put in the spinal drain, which will slow the recovery by a day.  But small price to pay, I guess.  I haven't seen him yet, they're still stitching him up.  They said 30 more minutes or so.

Thanks again for all of your support!  We still need it in the upcoming weeks, the hard part begins now....

[Jim Scott]

Stephanie ~

Just checking in to see how things went with Kevin and I'm delighted to learn that all is well.  Saving his hearing and apparently no facial nerve issues are both wonderful news!  No residual tumor left behind is excellent.  The drain is a slight impediment but temporary and in Kevin's case, necessary.  As you noted, a small price to pay for an otherwise splendid surgery outcome!

I trust that Kevin's recovery will be smooth and rapid.  Our support will remain steady as long as it's needed. Thanks for the update.

Jim

[NL]

Stephanie,

Great news - thank you for the update!

Nancy

[stephanie_megan]

Even better news:

I just went to see Kevin.  His facial nerves are PERFECT.  Dr. Friedman came by when I was in there and said "Smile big for me" and by golly he threw out a HUGE smile, beautifully symmetrical.  Additionally, he can definitely hear out of the left ear (Dr Friedman's tuning fork test). 

Additional good news is that they weren't able to "thread" the catheter into the spine for the spinal drain, so they did a puncture instead which I guess means that if he leaks spinal fluid, it will go into his soft tissue in his back.  This is better than the spinal drain because it won't keep him in the ICU for an extra day.  However, they are still kind of worried about the spinal fluid leak (apparently he's an air-head - meaning he has a lot of holes in his skull bones with air pockets - plus his jugular is cut on that side from his previous surgery). 

He's pretty nauseated and has thrown up a bit.  They've given him some anti-nausea medicine, and LOTS of pain meds, but he's still pretty uncomfortable.  Unfortunately, they won't let me stay in there with him, I"m only able to go in for 10 minutes every hour which I've already asked to speak to a manager about.

So in summary, today was a HUGE win.  I'm ecstatic at the results so far and can't say enough about the team here. 

Thanks again everyone for your support.

[leapyrtwins]

Wow, Stephanie, VERY positive news.

Thanks for updating us.

Our best to Kevin,

Jan

[moe]

I'm ecstatic too!
The nausea, csf leak, etc, will pass. Remember the first 3 days to NOT count!
Congrats on a very successful surgery
Maureen

[cindyj]

Great to hear that he's finished and hearing was saved and facial nerve is in great shape!  Not much more one could ask for with this surgery!  The nausea will subside, though may take some time.  Give him our best - thanks for updating us,

Cindy

[opp2]

I'm so pleased for both of you! Take care of yourself too.

[jaylogs]

Hey! Very good news there....so glad to hear that everything went well.  Like it was mentioned, the first 3 days don't count! Take care and keep us updated!
Jay

[stephanie_megan]

Kevin Update 10:15 PM Pacific Time Sunday:

Good Evening!

Kevin was released from the hospital early this evening :-)  All is going pretty well!

Right now he's laying in bed sleeping, so thankful to have the no IV, no blood pressure cuff, no one bugging him.  Just resting.  Although admittedly the wheelchair ride was a bit draining and caused a little bit of nausea, but he didn't end up getting sick.  Just dizzy and uncomfortable for a little while.

We got some fantastic news this afternoon before we were released.  The main surgeon, Dr. Friedman, called on the hospital room phone.  I spoke with him for a few minutes and he asked to speak to Kevin, but specifically asked for Kevin to use the left ear (surgery side).  Kevin was able to hear him just fine.  Doc said that if they had damaged the acoustic nerve during surgery, he would have heard him on the phone, but it would have sounded like Charlie Brown's Mom and he wouldn't have understood what was said.  The fact that he heard every word and responded is great news.

Now over the course of the next few weeks, it's possible that the facial and acoustic nerves will temporarily have weakness due to swelling of the brain and surgical area, but again, it will only be temporary.  Doc says he has no reason to believe that Kevin won't hear perfectly from the left ear once the swelling decreases and fluid drains.  YAY!

The next week we will stay here in LA in the "halfway house" type hotel next to the hospital.  The room is great and I feel great knowing we're 50 feet away from the docs and nurses if there are any complications, though at this point there is no reason to believe there will be any issues.

I won't be doing daily updates anymore since there really isn't much to report other than his progress in Physical Therapy, which probably won't be that exciting.

Thank you all AGAIN for your constant support.  I've been reading Kevin everyone's emails, texts, messages, etc.  He loves listening to all of your notes.

Please keep up the prayers, thoughts and groovy vibes.  We're not quite out of the woods yet, there is still a chance of complications, although it looks highly unlikely at this point!

Stephanie

[sgerrard]

The news about hearing preservation, and of course facial nerve preservation, is wonderful. Way to go!

Both of you take it easy for a while now. Even though it has worked out well, it was still brain surgery. Kevin will need a lot of naps in the next few weeks.

Best wishes for a quick recovery and a smooth trip home.

Steve

[leapyrtwins]

Way to go, Kevin 

A truly amazing success story.

Best wishes for a continued uneventful recovery.

Jan

[alicia]

I am arriving very late to this gathering as well, but am so glad you decided to go to HEI.  I hope these days recovering at Seton are better than you originally mentioned    Just rest.  Take it slow. Your trip home should be uneventful.  I too am very partial to Dr. Friedman.  Don't forget to come back and ask questions as you recover!  Alicia

[stephanie_megan]

What started as a great day has turned out not so great.  Kevin is back in the hospital on IV antibiotics.  We went to the surgeons office to have the stitches removed and they reviewed the results from the Spinal Tap that was done on Tuesday.  Unfortunately, the white blood cell count was higher that they'd like to see.  In addition, There is still a slight Spinal Fluid leak.  Those 2 things combined made the surgeons a bit nervous so they decided to start him on some IV fluids.  And since they figured this out so late in the day, they had to admit him back into the hospital.

Best case scenario is that tomorrow they will place a pick line (if you're queasy skip to the next paragraph).  The pick line is kind of like a long IV that goes into the artery in the arm all the way to the heart.  This way they don't have to keep putting in new IV's every few days.

Also, with a pick line they can discharge him from the hospital and I can take care of him in the hotel room.  During the MRSA infection from his last surgery, I learned how to change the IV fluids.  Nurse Stephanie can handle it :-)

As for the spinal fluid leak, the neurosurgeon wants to wait until tomorrow to figure out what to do about that.  Best case scenario the IV antibiotics help the surgery site heal so that there is no more fluid leak and we don't have to do anything.  It's possible they might have to do another Spinal Tap to drain more fluid or maybe place a drain.  But we'll cross that bridge when we get there.

He's taking it pretty hard.  We were hoping for a complication-free surgery, but looks like that's not in the cards for us.  But, on the positive side, Kevin is actually feeling pretty good.  If it was a bad infection, he would be feverish and feeling sick.  We're hoping he continues to feel good.  His lungs sound good and other than a headache and backache (both explained by the spinal fluid pressure), he's doing quite well.

So here I am, yet again, asking for prayers, hopeful thoughts and good vibes sent here to LA.

Love you all,

Stephanie