Thanks for stopping by to check in on Liz's Brain Waves. Liz appreciates all of support from everyone. On Monday January 4th, Liz went to the Urgent Care Clinic due to extremely painful headaches that she has been experiencing. The Clinic sent her to the ER at Allenmore, who in turn sent her to the ICU at Tacoma General. She went in for surgery the afternoon of Tuesday January 5th to remove the tumor.
Liz has been experiencing headaches for a few months now, but it was not known that they were due to a tumor. (Slow growing for about two years). Over the last weekend her headaches reached a new level and she went back to the Urgent Care Center where the physican recognizing the signs of pressure in her retina had her go to Allenmore. There they did a CAT scan, which showed a mass; so they did an MRI. Dr. Harris, a neurosurgeon at Tacoma General, said her tumor presented as an anomaly and he wanted to perform surgery as soon as possible. He said upon completion of the procedure that she was doing well, and it would be a "wait and see" situation until the lab results came back. We are hopeful for a full recovery, however she will need rehab and be off work for one or two months.
In leu of flowers or presents we are asking for donations to help assist with the medical and other bills (Liz does not have medial insurance and will be out of work for about a month or two) . We will be following up with information shortly regarding donations.
As information develops we will continue to post updates on this page. Please feel free share the page with others and to leave comments at this time Liz is not accepting visitors at the Hospital, but would love to receive comments from you.
We have shifts of family members who keep Elizabeth company so she isn't alone during this scary time. How many of us would be cool with having just had a brain tumor the size of a large avocado in our brain? We all can't image WHERE something that size could be. We were told that the spinal fluid in the cranium was about the same volume as the tumor so it was displacing the spinal fluid AND it was slow growing for about two years... then in the last few months it had begun to grow larger— causing her on-again-off-again headaches.
ReplyDeleteThe tumor was soft...which I'd never heard of, but they likened it to a cottled egg in texture. They put a very, very fine wire tool into the tumor, it vibrates very fast liquifying the body of the tumor, so it can be suctioned off by a eensie-weesie vacuum type tool. Then Dr. Harris took an additional two hours to make sure he got all the margins. So say your prayers for Elizabeth... we think it went well, but until she is back on her own we won't know just what to expect.
The next part of this adventure is to see how she is tomorrow. So far she has all her motor-skills, reflexes and comprehension.
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Note about tumor:
The tumor was in the left forefront of her brain. Sorta behind her left eye. That area of the brain deals with decision making; personality and inhibitions.
Keep up the fight Liz, I look forward to seeing you again soon! Jeff
ReplyDeleteKeep your smile, Liz - know we're thinking of you, and are looking forward to you back on your feet again soon!
ReplyDeleteCan we come visit her?
ReplyDelete