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24083. judithathome - 5/15/2008 9:32:23 PM The doctor himself called Leslie yesterday and said he had presented this case to a board of national and international neurosurgeons and that the consensus is to forego the stent (odd angle that might tear the artery) and go with the cranial arterial bypass.
So send good thoughts our way next Thursday...this, to me, is a much more serious surgery and by far, a much longer recuperative time. He will need to go straight from the hospital to a rehabilation facility, hopefully the one here in town where they know him and did such good work with him last year.
24084. wonkers2 - 5/15/2008 10:43:16 PM We're keeping our fingers crossed. 24085. thoughtful - 5/16/2008 1:36:54 PM Wow. Best wishes to you and Leslie. The good news is these guys are obviously being very careful and are doing their very best for him. 24086. judithathome - 5/16/2008 3:14:53 PM well, he got quite boost yesterday when he was finally able to get in contact with his pediatric oncologist...she's retired now and living on a ranch about 50 miles from here. He said she was almost speechless when she she heard him tell her who he was...and she wants to come into town and have lunch with both of us.
This is a woman whom I credit with saving Leslie's life (she administered his chemo) but most important, with saving his sanity...she would sit with him for hours and tell him how much he was going to accomplish and achieve as a grown man.
Clearly she is still a wonderful woman...and I'm certain with the field she was in, she doesn't have many patients who made it so she was doubly surprised to hear from him. 24087. judithathome - 5/16/2008 7:44:56 PM Oh god...everything has changed and the surgery has been moved up a day...to Wednesday. This has engendered all sorts of schedule changes for both me AND Keoni as he just got done moving things around for Thursday. It's looking as though I will be there for it alone for most of Wednesday since Keoni has to go out of town for two appointments but will be back that afternoon.
I think the cranial surgery lasts about 6 hours. Luckily, I got two really hard crossword puzzle books this weekend. And have a good book to take along.
This is actually much better because his surgeon is leaving the country for a conference on Friday...his assoiciates were going to do the follow-up after the Thursday surgery and evidently, he arranged it to do the surgery on Wednesday so he could be there the next day instead. This doctor is amazing. And he and Leslie have such a connection...it's a delight to see.
Yes, my son has been so fortunate to have absolutely superb doctors. 24088. wonkers2 - 5/16/2008 8:28:58 PM A pint of Jack Daniels or Jose Cuervo might be helpful as well. Good luck! 24089. arkymalarky - 5/16/2008 10:28:40 PM Wow, good luck to all of you, Judith. 24090. Ms. No - 5/17/2008 2:42:04 AM It's really wonderful to hear about such excellent physicians --- those who go the extra mile. I'm glad Leslie's in such good hands and I'll definitely be thinking of you both. 24091. judithathome - 5/17/2008 8:06:24 PM I am absolutely furious...my aunt, who has hooked up with this Conservative asshole from Oklahoma and is living the life of Riley on his frigging ranch just sent me a stupid Dittohead bullshit email about Muslims parading in England and it had all the doom and gloom Chicken Little "this could happen here if THEY win" crapola in it. I am definitely out of the will NOW because this is what I wrote her back (and I might add, this is the first I've heard from her since I sent out the email early this week about Leslie's upcoming surgery...nothing else from her like "hope everything goes okay", etc) Here's what I wrote:
The pictures from that email didn't come through and it's just as well....right now I'm a little more SCARED by the fact my son is having his skull removed on Wednesday and his brain operated on so that he can be a productive human being in this shitty world we live in. Sorry if the fact some people practicing their religion seems like the end of the world.
Frankly, I don't give a flying fuck what Muslims in England are doing. And to me, people shouldn't be judged by whether they are liberal or conservative or gay or straight...they are just people.
Sorry to be so harsh but I'm not concerned with politics right now...I'm more concerned with seeing Leslie through this ordeal he's going through. It may seem like no big deal but trust me, it certainly IS to me.
Oh, and I don't know what sort of computer program you have but you might be pleased to know that Bill Gates' Microsoft XP has a clever thing going...he's probably Liberal but try typing SHITTY into a document and hitting "spellchecker" and what comes up is SHITE...a very subliminal way of saying what they think of Arabs. 24092. Wombat - 5/17/2008 10:03:42 PM "Shite" is what Brits sometimes say instead of "shit." If you are referring to "Shiite," you need another "i." And of course shiites are Moslems, not ayrabs. Pedantic moment is now concluded. Good luck with your son's operation. 24093. Ms. No - 5/18/2008 6:34:04 PM I'm going to play besotted auntie right now.
My step-dad was in the Bay Area for the weekend and we got together with my SIL and the two younger kids for a trip to the park.
Here! Have a Cheeto!
Maddox and Grampa
Addison and Grampa
Lapful of Grandkids! 24094. arkymalarky - 5/18/2008 11:57:50 PM Adorable!! 24095. Ms. No - 5/19/2008 6:21:59 AM Yeah, we like 'em. Not sending any back! ;-> 24096. judithathome - 5/19/2008 1:12:04 PM MsNo, Your stepdad looks younger everytime I see him! Must be from him trying to keep up with your mom....!
Cute kiddos! 24097. judithathome - 5/19/2008 1:16:18 PM Wombat, I have since found that out (about the proper spelling of Shi'ite) but what amazes me is this: if you type "shit" in lower case, the replacement word still comes up with a capital letter on the "s"; do the Brits capitalize Shite in the middle of a sentence?
And anyhow, my aunt likely won't know the difference....IF she ever reads that far into the letter! 24098. Wombat - 5/19/2008 3:57:29 PM JAH:
No, they use it the way we do. Hope all goes well. 24099. judithathome - 5/20/2008 2:28:03 PM Will be off the computer for the next few days. We have to be in Dallas at 5am tomorrow. Surgery starts at 8am and they said it may take up to 11 hours. I'm probably staying the night tomorrow night. 24100. arkymalarky - 5/20/2008 3:39:35 PM We'll be thinking about y'all. 24101. judithathome - 5/20/2008 10:15:47 PM Leslie just called and while going over his chart at the neurosurgeon's, they noticed that yesterday he was given a blood thinner after his arteriogram so his surgery tomorrow has been canceled and will be rescheduled for two weeks from now. Luckily for us they caught it or he would have bled out tomorrow during surgery!
He told the neurosurgeon's assistant that if things like this keep happening, they won't need to worry about surgery because both he and his mom will stroke out. Glad he's keeping his sense of humor...I'm at wit's end. 24102. thoughtful - 5/20/2008 10:33:26 PM J@h, you're off the hot seat for awhile.
When we were going through all kinds of things with my father's lung cancer the first time, we were on a terrible emotional roller coaster that led us to very high highs on good news and very low lows on bad news. And it seemed every piece of good news was followed by a piece of bad news. It was horrible. We were emotional wrecks before it was over. The thing of it is is none of that emotional energy changed the outcome one iota. It was what it was.
So the 2nd time he got lung cancer, we decided that we were not going to ride the roller coaster, but were going to take what comes as it comes. Not that it wasn't emotional, not that we could be come like stones...however, the good news was good, the bad news was bad, but all of it was dealt with with a calmer, more positive 'yeah we can handle this' attitude. It didn't change the outcome one iota, but it was sure a heck of a lot easier on all of us. And we all had more energy to deal with the reality of the situation the 2nd time around.
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