A month plus

Wow. It's been a while since I've written in this blog. Since I had brain surgery within that month I'll give myself an excuse for this tardy blog entry. Yes, I had to have another brain surgery, that's three craniotomies and one VP shunt within 13 months, if you're counting. I was scheduled to have it on April 1 but I needed the surgery earlier so I was admitted to the Kaiser hospital in Anaheim on March 26 and had the surgery in the early morning of March 28. I was a little relieved that the operation didn't happen on April Fool's Day. I really wouldn't have appreciated any April Fool's jokes on that day.


I returned home on Wednesday April 2, 5 days post surgery. I couldn't get out of there soon enough. My wrists were badly bruised from the IV's and I do not enjoy being woken up in the middle of the night.


I started Temodar, a chemotherapy drug designed to treat Glioma Brain cancer. The treatment is not as strenuous as the treatment for Medulloblastoma so I have been able to tolerate the side effects very well. I only have to take the Temodar pills for five days at home, then I have three weeks off. No IV's so I feel much better.




Noureddin and I went to San Diego to meet with my new Oncologist. We stayed at a hotel in La Jolla and were able to make a mini vacation out of the trip. It was such a nice break. The first picture is of us by the pool, the second is a view near our room. This hotel was awesome! Fortunately my appointment was during off peek season, so the rooms were half priced and we made a reservation online and got a really good deal.





My Hard Drive had to get replaced so I have been spending time transferring documents, songs etc. Noureddin rearranged the furniture in the house and made it more accessible for me. My gate is still off, so I have a walker. I can get by fine without it. It's a good thing that I like to lean on people, 'cause I do. My speech was slurred after the surgery so a Speech therapist came to my home 3 times, and I'm cured! Not really, but my speech is better than it was three weeks ago.