We are already home!!!

As I am sitting here writing this my head is spinning from the events of the last few days. I don't even know where to begin. I guess I will start by letting you know that Richard made it through the surgery with an amazing amount of courage and grace. He is remarkably fine...so fine that he was granted an early release from the hospital and right now he is tucked into our bed....sleeping....with a contented look on his face. (I wonder if I will ever stop checking on him every ten minutes?????? Probably not for quite a while!!!) (Oooops...I just checked on him and he's watching the food channel....it's a total miracle!!!)


Richard's surgery went very well on Thursday morning. I have never been so afraid in my entire life. Kissing him goodbye was excruciating....and waiting for the call from the doctor with a surgery update was a very painful few hours....but we all made it. I was surrounded by people who love Richard dearly......his Dad and his wife, his sister, my sister Barbara and Richard's son, Dana. Their kindness and love was what got me through those very difficult hours.


When I spoke to the doctor I could feel my knees shaking......and stupidly I had to ask him to repeat himself twice and then I had to repeat everything back to him so that I could report back to the group accurately. He said that the surgery went well and that he was very pleased. It was a Glioblastoma (or Glio in the doctor world!) and so they ended up removing a great deal of Richard's right temporal lobe. He said he felt confident that he got all of the tumor and at least 2 cm of clean tissue around it. He went further to assure me that any other "grown" glio cells, floating around in his brain, could be successfully treated with radiation and chemotherapy. Finally, he said he was very optimistic that for this tumor scare we were firmly on the road to recovery.


For those of you who I haven't spoken to directly....that is the scary thing about these type of tumors. It seems that for most (around 95%) of them.....there is a reoccurence of another tumor in the future. The key, is to "treat" initially and then keep the patient as healthy as possible in order to have them ready to "treat" again when/if the cancer returns. At Swedish they keep the tumor itself in a "deep freeze" for research purposes but also to be able to directly test the effectiveness of new chemos on Richard's specific tumor tissue for any future reoccurence. It's all much more technicle.......but this is my simple way of explaining the way these tumors usually behave.


The doctor had told us at our initial appointment that "getting" the tumor was the first step. After a detailed pathology study a specific radiation and chemo regime would be chosen/recommended by Swedish's.....get this......TUMOR TABLE!!!! Every Monday all these amazing doctors from different disciplines (neurology, neuro-oncology, neuro-radiology, psychiatry, physical therapy, occupational therapy, etc.) meet and discuss their patients specific tumors, pathology reports and treatment options. At this point, Dr. Mayberg (our hero) will call us and we'll choose in conjunction with him the next step in treatment. To think we knew nothing of this world 12 days ago......It's quite extraordinary!!! At the time of my post surgery chat with Dr. Mayberg he told me that he hoped to present Richard's tumor at Monday's Tumor Table.



When I finally saw Richard (in the Neurology ICU) I was totally overcome with emotions. There he lay.....totally quiet with lots of tubes and monitors everywhere. The right side of his face looked a little swollen, there were two small bandages near his temple and right forehead, I could see a bloody tube coming out of the back of his head, he had all his (well...what hair he has left:)!) hair accept maybe a two inch patch above his right ear and he was very pale. But he was there and I could touch him and he was warm. I said, "Honey, it's me". He kept his eyes closed, didn't move a muscle, but whispered, "Hi Honey. Listen, it hurts really bad. Please get them to give me some pain medication quickly!" It's horrible to say but those were the sweetest words I have ever heard!!!

There were many things.....many.....that happened between then and now....but at this point I am so tired and weary that I can't write any more. We took pictures of all the events and once Richard is stronger we will post them. For now....Thank you for all the prayers and special thoughts. We felt all of them....through your collective love we were able to stay strong. We are deeply touched by your kindness, generosity and compassion. We came home to an incredibly clean house thanks to some beautiful angels. It was amazing. We know that we are being held tenderly. My heart and spirit are so full!!!

Goodnight!

Sher