We left at 7:30 AM for the UW Madison Hospital and before we got out of town it was raining cats and dogs. We had to stop in Cambridge to let the storm pass. Fortunately, we had left early enough so we did arrive on time. We met with the surgeon first, Dr. Baskaya. He told us that the tumor grew from the brain membrane and was pushing into the area of the brain that controls speech. That's why Mom has had some trouble getting the right words.
She is to arrive at the hospital Thursday morning at 5:30 and the surgery is planned for 7:30. He said it should take about 3 hours, then to recovery, and then directly to ICU. The doctor said we will not know if the tumor is cancerous until the test results come back and that could take 4 or 5 days. She will probably be in ICU for a couple of days and in the hospital for at least 5 days. Of course this doesn't account for the possibility of complications. Dr. Baskaya did tell us that she absolutely needs to have the tumor removed or there's a good chance she wouldn't make it to the end of the year.
After meeting with the doctor we were able to get her scheduled for the MRI, which was good because we thought we would have to come back on Tuesday for that. They did have some trouble getting an IV in her before the MRI and that did slow things down considerably. But after a couple hours or so we were able to finish the rest of the pre-op tests and whatnot that included an EKG, chest X-rays, lab work, and the usual paperwork.
She is to arrive at the hospital Thursday morning at 5:30 and the surgery is planned for 7:30. He said it should take about 3 hours, then to recovery, and then directly to ICU. The doctor said we will not know if the tumor is cancerous until the test results come back and that could take 4 or 5 days. She will probably be in ICU for a couple of days and in the hospital for at least 5 days. Of course this doesn't account for the possibility of complications. Dr. Baskaya did tell us that she absolutely needs to have the tumor removed or there's a good chance she wouldn't make it to the end of the year.
After meeting with the doctor we were able to get her scheduled for the MRI, which was good because we thought we would have to come back on Tuesday for that. They did have some trouble getting an IV in her before the MRI and that did slow things down considerably. But after a couple hours or so we were able to finish the rest of the pre-op tests and whatnot that included an EKG, chest X-rays, lab work, and the usual paperwork.
So we were finally leaving the hospital around 5, but she is all set to arrive Thursday morning for the surgery. The doctor is very optimistic and we were all impressed with how well he explained the process to us. Everyone that we talked to spoke very highly of Dr. Baskaya.
Thank you for all your kind words, prayers, and messages.
