Today is Friday….POD 4 (Post-op day 4).  Brooks is doing amazingly well….or maybe he is just amazing!!

This afternoon, he stood out in the front yard and practiced swinging his golf clubs! If you didn't see the incision running along the side of his head, you would never know he just had major brain surgery!  Each day, he shows vast improvements.  I have to remind myself that he still needs to take it slow and easy!  I sense from him that he is getting very bored….and I love it!  It means he is really getting back to his "old" self…..minus the brain tumor, of course!

My father had surgery yesterday to put is poor, splintered upper arm back together.  They put a plate with 14-15 screws through it to hold it together.  Brooks took one look at the x-ray and said, "Wow…Grandpa definitely has it worse than me!"  Well. it is not a contest, and even if it was….I would say it was a tie!  The good news is that they are both strong, otherwise healthy men who have the summer ahead of them to heal.

So, on we go.  As I told my students at school, life is not always fair and it is certainly not predictable.  Life will throw you a curve ball once in a while, just to make sure you are paying attention…especially to the things in life that are most important!  In my life, family and health are most important and this entire journey has reminded me how fortunate I have been in my life to have a loving and healthy family.  I will never again take that for granted!

So….we made it!  We are home….more importantly, Brooks is home!!

This part of the journey is over.  The Mayo Clinic is amazing!  If you've never been, you have to visit.  The history, the legacy of so many amazing pioneers….to be a part of that…to benefit from all that knowledge, skill,  commitment to excellence is mind boggling.  I am so grateful that we had access to the best place in the world for neurology and neurosurgery.

Now, we take it one day at a time.  Brooks is learning that he has to be patient with his recovery.  He needs to let his brain heal.  His doctors have told him that it will take week…even a few months for his brain to recover.  We have to celebrate the improvements we see each day.

So….we move on to the next part of the journey.  I am expecting amazing things from this brave young man of mine!  He can do anything he wants to.  Nothing will hold him back now.  Thank you all for your support!

Mary

Hurray!  The light is really visible at the end of that tunnel!!!

I actually went home last night.  Brooks was pretty out of it and it was my mother's birthday.  Oh….and I forgot to mention that over the weekend, my nearly 85 year old father took a tumble down the stairs at my sister's house and broke his upper arm!  Thank God he didn't break his neck!!  But, that was another reason I wanted to go back to the cities.  He will be fine (after surgery!!), but his summer of golf has certainly been interrupted!

I did get up early and drove back so that I wouldn't miss the rounds by the doctors.  I did miss the first round…which was OK.  When I arrived in his room, there he was, sitting up in bed with his head completely unwrapped!!  Wow!!  He looked terrific!!  And, he was hungry!!!  (I would love to post a picture, but he wants to be the first to post a pic on social media!)  After breakfast, he actually got to get out of bed and walk to the bathroom!  Dr. Van Gompel stopped by and was happy to see how well he was doing.  He was ready to move out of the ICU into the neuro-recovery floor and possibly go home by Wednesday!!  Yay!!!!

The rest of the day was spent watching TV, napping and spending time on his computer.  He got out of bed and walked around his room and to the bathroom a number of times.  He did have a couple of small seizures, but that is nothing to be alarmed about.  The surgeons said that this was expected post-op.  When you mess around in the brain….the brain is not happy.  We need to let the brain heal and the swelling to go down.  We are just hoping that he will get the green light tomorrow morning and get to go home tomorrow afternoon!  It seems unreal that I am even saying that given all he has been through!  I don't know if I could have done all that he has!  I am so in awe of his courage!

So…at this point, the biggest concern is what to do with his new hair-do.  His pain is pretty minimal (incision is a bit sore) and he is running out of places to be poked (needing to move his IV multiple times).  He is ready to be at home in his own bed and we will hopefully get him there tomorrow.

Thanks so much, one more time, for caring about Brooks!  I feel surrounded by love and support and that makes me strong which, in turn, helps Brooks be strong.

Mary

Another early start for a day of surgery. Last night was stressful.  Brooks and I talked a lot about the risks he was facing.  His biggest concern….his biggest fear was the risk of losing the ability to communicate fluently.  We knew all along that this tumor was in a precarious spot.  We knew that it presented some risk of impairment to his speech.  As the clock was ticking, the anxiety about these risks was rising.  But, he had come this far and we decided that, as scary as it was, it was a small risk for a big gain.

We were up by 6 AM, talked to the resident and waited.  The team came up to get him to take him to pre-op around 8:30 AM and we said our good-byes.  At that point, there was nothing to do but wait.  We heard different amounts of time from each doctor and nurse we talked to….anywhere from 3 to 6 hours.  I received a call informing me that the procedure started around 10 AM.  After one other call telling me that the surgery was going well, I was shocked when they called at 12:40 to tell me it was completed.  

We met with Dr.Van Gompel following the surgery and he reported that things went very well.  He showed us a short video clip of the actual surgery.  I cannot tell you how amazing it was to look at the screen and realize that I was actually looking at my son's brain!!  They took about 80% of the tumor.  There are two reasons why they could not take 100%.  First, there was a significant blood vessel running through the tumor that they needed to preserve.  Secondly, they needed to avoid the part of the tumor that was closest to the speech and language area of his brain.  The hope is that reducing the volume of this tumor will take the pressure off of the area it was pressing on and therefore relieve the seizure activity.  The type of tumor, a DNET, is a very low-grade tumor and should not return.

So…at this point we were happy.  The surgery was a success.  But, we were still unsure about the affect the surgery may have had on Brooks' speech….even temporarily.  So….again we had to wait.  He had a couple more hour in recovery.

At about 3 PM, the team arrived at the door of his room.  I went into the hallway to greet him.  He looked right at me, and with a very groggy voice said "I can talk."  And with that, we knew that the worst of the fears were gone.  For the next hour or so, we were entertained by all the things Brooks could say.  He was pretty loopy from the anesthesia, so he was very funny.  It was such a relief for all of us!  We could not be more thrilled!  We still have to see if he is truly seizure-free and that may take some time.  But, the biggest hurdle has been cleared.  We can deal with anything after this experience!

Thank you a million times over for all the prayers!!  We are so thankful!!

Mary

Tomorrow is the day.  Brooks is scheduled for surgery at 8 AM.  The plan is to remove most of the tumor and get him seizure-free.

Please pray for God to guide the skillful hands of Brooks' surgeons and for Brooks to have a complete and speedy recovery!

Thanks again for checking in on this blog and for sending positive energy and prayers to Brooks.

I will post an update tomorrow after he is out of surgery.

Mary

Today was a good day. Brooks' pain was minimal.  He was tolerating the bed rest by watching soccer, the Belmont Stakes (history in the making!) and the second game of the Stanley Cup.  He was in a good mood!  It was nice to have him back to "normal".

I went home last night for the first time since Sunday.  I needed a good night's sleep and to check in at home to make sure everything was in order.  Kelsy has been there, but I just wanted to check in.  As it turns out…..it was the best thing for Brooks as well.  He got a great night's sleep.  They have now put him on an "enhanced sleep" status, which means minimal interruptions during the night.  He is not having any issues related to his vitals (heart rate, blood pressure, temperature, etc.) so he does not need to have them checked every 2 hours.  It is better for him to let him sleep.

The only problem with not staying overnight is that I miss the early morning rounds of the doctors.  Today, his surgeon, Dr. Van Gompel stopped by to talk to him about the surgical options.  Brooks' dad, Todd, was there with him to hear the options.  The decision, of course, is Brooks.  When I got back to the hospital, we talked about the risks and the benefits.  I know he will make the best decision for himself.  He has already shown such courage throughout this journey!  I am so proud of him!

The surgery will take place sometime on Monday.  I think part of Brooks' good mood was due to knowing that this will soon be behind him.  We are so thankful for all the good wishes and prayers being sent his way!  Keep 'em coming!!  And thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!

Mary

They started to arrive around 8 AM and by 8:15, the room was so crowded. I had to leave.  There were multiple doctors, 2 epilepsy technicians, at least one nurse, the specialist in charge of the study and LOTS of equipment.  Their task was to stimulate the electrodes that they had established were involved in the onset of Brooks' seizures while having Brooks perform tasks.  These tasks included speaking, reading and doing simple physical tasks.  In this way, they could determine what these areas controlled.

After the testing, Brooks was fairly exhausted.  Unable to eat or drink at this point (with the possibility of surgery in the afternoon still looming), he went to sleep.  A bit later, his surgeon, Dr. Van Gompel arrived with the information we had all been waiting for.  The mapping revealed what they had suspected all along.  The seizure "zone" is a speech and language portion of his cortex. They will not resect any part of that.  However, Dr. Van Gompel is confident that removing most of the tumor will relieve the pressure that it puts on this speech area and therefore will relieve the seizures.  There is also a possibility they they may also combine that with an implant that would "intercept" a seizure before it begins.  They will run tests through the weekend to see if Brooks seizures respond to this type of device.  Either way, he will have surgery Monday or Tuesday.  At that point, it will be a matter of a day or two in the ICU, a few more days healing and then he gets to go home and put this all behind him with an exciting new beginning!