Ready and raring to go!

Well we are in Seattle. The drive wasn't bad, the pass was foggy but clear. The hardest thing is finding the hospital and the right garage, the one that is for patients, is only $10 per 24 hours and can be validated for $10 so we won't have to pay anything. Our room is a converted hospital room, which is evident, but it is clean and convenient and inexpensive. Its only $70 per night, single beds, but I haven't had to leave the hospital once I got here. We found the right garage, we found the inn (which reception closes at 4pm so we had to go back down to patient registration to get the keys, would have been nice to know that ahead of time. This hospital is not good on disseminating information to its patients. We had a great housekeeper who got us where we needed to go, personally led us to the Inn, back to registration, back to the Inn. Make sure we had towels and soap, showed us where the Dining Room was, what time it closed, etc. She was awesome. But the person who registered me for the room should have given me all that information, would have saved all of us some time.

I talked to Beverly at length today. She is the nurse I spoke to yesterday who will be assisting on my procedure. She was surprised she hadn't told me all the information, gee, she thought she had. I reminded her no, she didn't, since they sent me home last week. A little disorganized is how it felt. But after talking to her for about 20 minutes, I felt better. I feel more in control of my body and this procedure and what is going to happen to me tomorrow. I think one needs to feel informed and empowered when it comes to medical procedures in order to get through them most successfully.

I check in at 6am, go downstairs to the gamma place and they "turn me into a patient"; I get my gown and pressures checked and all that good stuff. Then the IV team comes at 6:45 and no, they don't need any information about my mediport, Beverly checked. She apologized for getting me upset about that. The IV team has no problem with any mediports. Then they will sedate me, using conscious sedation including versette and then will set the frame. Even before they put on the frame they numb the four points on my head and she said some people complain about their head being numb for up to a week. I am okay with that. I do NOT want to feel the frame bolted into my head. Then they will put me in the MRI; get a good scan with the frame and then the experts will spend the next hour putting together the perfect plan that will maximize tumor destruction and minimize impact on good tissue. Once the plan is set and put in the gamma machine computer, I'll be put in the machine and this high tech machine takes over following the set guidelines to within .5mm.

After the procedure they will remove the frame, I'll be under observation for a few hours and once I am deemed safe and sound, they will send me home. Mike will drive, I'll probably sleep. They said that most people are really tired for the first few days following and experience headaches for more days than that. Like I said before, swelling is a problem, so we'll be watching for the side effects of swelling and probably increase the steroids to control the swelling. Right now, at least I know what to expect and am ready for tomorrow morning. In truth, I am sort of excited. I feel like we can blast the guts out of these tumors and they WILL BE NO MORE! Yea!

Pray I'm right and I'll blog when I'm conscious again tomorrow or Thursday. If you don't hear from me, it doesn't mean I'm not okay, it means I'm sleeping or trying to get over the affects of the procedure. I will try to at least put an update on facebook letting you know I'm okay. God Bless you my friends and prayer warriors. You are the best.