My parents came to give us support which was so nice. Keni had someone to entertain and was distracted by them. Early that morning the docs wanted another MRI so we went to Radiology first. Keni got her IV with no problems and was so excited for her nail jewels she got as a prize. It was decided to just keep her sedated from the MRI and they would take her straight to surgery. When the techs were prepping her for surgery the doctors would look at the MRI one more time to make sure everything was in order, etc. So we kissed Keni goodbye and sent her on her way for the MRI. The surgery was said to last about 2-4 hours. We checked-in at the surgery waiting area and sat nervously. Every time the phone rang and the receptionist was about to talk I'm pretty sure everyone in the room was holding their breath. She finally called our name to talk to the doctors in surgery for an update. Everything was going smoothly and we probably had about an hour left. We decided to grab some lunch and bring it back to the waiting room just in case they called. We didn't want to miss any updates. I'm glad we did because we had probably taken one bite when Dr. Brockmeyer walked in. He walked over to us and said we should go in the little conference rooms they have. My heart sunk! Most of the time the doctors just discuss the surgery right there. This meant it was probably something serious. As if a second brain surgery isn't enough!
"I have good news and bad news." That was his first sentence. Then he proceeded to say that the surgery went well and she is doing great. Okay so what's the bad news? "Well the good news is that the area of concern looks like it is mostly scar tissue. The bad news is that the reason for the scar tissue is because a hemaclip was left in from the last surgery." Are you shitting me? This could have been prevented. Wait, so does that mean no chemo, no radiation, no cancerous tumor still? This is good news. But wait, this could have been prevented? You freaking jerk! Oh I love you. Such good news. See where I'm going here. It was an emotional roller coaster! But honestly such a blessing, right?!
He said the reason the area was acting funny on the MRI was because it was the clip and scar tissue. Makes sense. And that all the stuff we could see on the image was mostly scar tissure. Keni's scaring was 10 times worse than the normal. Her little body was trying to fight off the clip. The doctor cut out some of the the scar tissue and sent it for biopsy just to be safe.
After discussing everything with Dr. Brockmeyer we went up to Keni's room in the PICU. I couldn't believe me eyes. She looked so good. She didn't have any of the tubes like last time, she wasn't intubated! And the best part is that when we walked in she said hi! (Last time is was three days.) She was oh-so-tired but she was awake, and mostly alert. My heart was so full. I felt so thankful-- mostly because it put into perspective how sick she was the last time and how lucky we were she didn't have more serious side affects! By nighttime she was awake and doing awesome! She was scarfing the jello they let her have and was starving for something more substantial. I'm pretty sure the PICU nurses didn't know what to do with her. The resident came and wrote orders that she could eat whatever and it was the joke that the cafeteria didn't know where the ICU was because they don't have patients that eat. Leave it to Keni to want two dinners and a few snacks in between. :) She also wanted out of her bed. She wanted to move around and play. They wouldn't let her but did bring in some things for her to do.
The next morning after her follow-up MRI she was transferred to the NTU floor. She was in heaven. No more monitors hooked up to her and she could walk around and play! We even got to take her to the playroom. That whole day she didn't want in her bed. She felt well and she knew it. We got the go ahead to go home on the 30th. Perfect. Right before Halloween. Now she can go trick-or-treating. We couldn't believe that she had brain surgery less than 48 hours before, and now all she could think about was trick-or-treating.
Joe and I's bed for the night.
Check out all that food!
Ready to go home-- trying out the wheelchair instead of the wagon this time.
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