Sissy's Surgery - With UPDATES

UPDATE: Saturday @ 9pm - I got a chance to talk with Sissy this evening and she is talking & sounding so great!!! However, she is not feeling great. The pain in her head is intense and the IV meds are only helping for about an hour, then wearing off. She is having trouble keeping any food and oral meds down, so those are not able to bring any relief. She is also weak and dizzy when she stands. She told me that she falls right over to her weak side. These things are all to be expected after undergoing brain surgery; but she is strong-willed & feeling frustrated. I am hoping that she will try and relax and take it easy on her self. No one expects her to be "super women" and healing and recovery will come at its own pace. Please continue to pray for her and for my Aunt Kathy who is spending hours at her bedside doing those things that only great moms do (like cleaning up our vomit when we are sick!). Sissy is hoping that she will be moved to the step-down unit tomorrow (Sunday) and will be discharged on Tuesday. I will post more updates as I get them and as I get the time to do so. Thank you for your continued prayers.

UPDATE: @ 8:00pm - Sissy has been moved to the Neuro-ICU & she is recovering. She is doing good. I actually saw a picture of her (I would post it here if I knew she wouldn't kill me later - haha). She looked great, not a lot of swelling and they only bandaged her left side where the incision is, rather than wrap her whole head. They used to do that to Daniel and it always looked very interesting. Her mother (my Aunt Kathy) is in with her & is planning on staying with her all night. She is eating ice chips right now & talking. She smiled when her husband walked in the room and was happy to see everyone.

Praises to report: All muscles are in good working order!! The doctors said the tumor tissue looked to be benign (Pathology report will hopefully confirm that). Bleeding during surgery was controlled & there was minimal blood loss! Praise God!!!

Specific prayer requests for during the night: She is feeling very nauseous and is experiencing a lot of pain, the meds are not currently strong enough for her. And she is having trouble resting because there is a constant ringing in her damaged ear. Please pray for comfort and rest throughout the night. Thank you again for all the prayers!

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UPDATE: @ 2:45pm the doctors began the hour and a half long process of closing up Sissy's skull. They were able to remove 90% of the tumor. 10% of it was completely entangled in the facial nerve and was unable to be removed. They were not able to spare her hearing and she lost 100% of her hearing in her left ear; but that was expected and Sissy was okay with that risk. She will have some drooping/numbness in her facial muscles, but hopefully over time and with rehab, she can regain all of it back. Once she is "back together" and bandaged up, she will be moved to Neuro-ICU. Hopefully then, she can have visitors and I will get another update. Thank you so much for your continued prayers. They are so much appreciated by me and my family members.

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I know it has been a while since I posted. Sorry. I thought I was going to be better during the summer months, but it turns out, we have been so busy this summer. The last time I posted on June 26th, I was packing and preparing to get on a flight with my mother and Sierra to Rochester, New York. We were going there because my dear cousin, Sissy, was scheduled to have brain surgery on Monday, June 29th.

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Background Info: In February, Sissy started experiencing headaches and medications were not controlling the pain. The doctors continued to tell her that it was hormonal because her birth control recently changed. However, in late March/early April when she started experiencing hearing loss and ringing in her ear, the doctors decided to take a second look. A few days later, an MRI revealed that she had a brain tumor on the left side of her brain, sitting on her auditory and facial nerve. At that point, Sissy was given several options and she consulted with many doctors. She agreed that surgery was her best option at this point. So her surgery was scheduled for Monday, June 29th.

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Fast forward a few months: Upon our departure for Rochester on the 28th of June, we learned that the doctors had canceled the surgery. Seriously???!!! Apparently, Sissy's surgery was listed as a "white sheet" procedure, meaning that it was not urgent; and because there were other patients that needed to have brain surgery that were more urgent, Sis got the bump! So, needless to say, we just spent our week hanging out and visiting with family (pictures to come - I promise).

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Well, that brings me to today. Friday, July 10th was the new date selected for the surgery and yes indeed, this time it will happen. In fact, the surgery has already started and as I type this, the doctors are working to complete a total resection of the tumor. I am asking for prayers. Please keep Sissy in your prayers. I know she was very anxious and nervous yesterday and this morning. I so much wish I could be there with her at this time; but we are leaving (once again) for our family vacation to the Outer Banks on Sunday. (This also probably means another blog hiatus for a while - Sorry about that)!

I will try to keep you all updated on Sissy's progress. For those of you that are on Facebook, I am updating my status every time I get information from Rochester, so you can stay tuned in on there as well.

Thank you for your continued prayers for Sissy, her family, and her doctors.

God bless!