update on Dani

[Guest guest]

Hey all , its late and im exhausted but I wanted to say thank you from the

bottom of my heart for all the support and prayers for Dani today.

We got there at 930am surgery was scheduled for 1130 , they gave her 2 vallium

to calm her nerves which made her very silly , which is way better than scared.

Unfortunately her surgery was put off til 130 pm as the surgeon was behind ,

which by this time the vallium had worn off.

They called on the waiting room phone at 330 to say they had just made the first

incision !! TWO hours to position her, shave head start I.V etc ,hopefully they

knocked her out as soon as she got in there.

This is what they wound up doing to her( not for weak stomachs)

The made an incisioni from the base of her skull / neck area (where your

hairline starts ) up 4-5 inches , they removed a wedge of bone about 2cm across

, then cut into the dura covering of brain , which exposed the brain /spine ,

they then cut and removed the very top 1/3 of top vertebrae , lasered the

cerebellum tonsils up out of the spinal canal ( they arent suppose to be there)

then they made an incision on the top of her head , and removed a membrane from

just under the skin and ontop of the skull, they used this membrane to create a

graft for where they cut into the dura covering at.

She did well , no blood transfusion needed, her face is extremely puffy ( yours

would be too if you laid on it for 6hours

She is still very much sedated , woke briefly for 3sec is all.

She will be monitored in Peds ICU for tonight and maybe tomorrow , then go to

reg room for 3-14 days , she will have an MRI in 3-4 months to see if the syrinx

in spinal canal has shrunk , if not then another in 6months , if its still the

same then she will have to have spine surgery to insert shunt to drain the

syrinx into her stomach.

HOWEVER we are praying that this surgery itself fixes everything

Thanks for everything

deb

33yrold husband Joe, was diagnosed with CC in Sept,

resection on Sept 27th 2004

found mets to the abdominal wall lining 3 lymph nodes involved

open wound from infection until Jan 2005

Ileostomy reversal Dec 7th 2004

Chemo regiment begun Jan 2005

5fu/levorican/Oxaplatin/ Avastin added Feb 14 2005 (Happy Valentines

Calcium Magnesium added for the Tingles Feb 28 2005

Ct Scan done March 23rd 2005 , 16 millimeter cyst like object on liver found

April 1 2005 PET scan done awaiting results

April 11 PET SCAN SHOWS

NED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

May 9 Plateletts are low 75,000

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