"And I will always wait for you if you will wait for me..."

 Overall, things are good. The surgeon said he had to peel tumor off the motor area, but he thinks he was able to get it all off. He doesn't think he damaged any motor or speech areas during the surgery. Eric didn't have any seizures and was able to stay awake during the brain mapping portion, which is good as they were able to get an idea of the extent of the tumor prior to sedating him for the resection. We will know more after the MRI today. The extent of resection is important for prognosis, but even with full resection, microscopic bits are left, so they may do additional therapies (chemotherapy, radiation) or just continue close monitoring for regrowth with MRIs. The next steps depend on the tumor histology and genetic results. 

Eric is doing alright. He has had a little headache, but not much pain. He is sleepy and gets tired after a few minutes of concentration. He had PT, OT, and speech therapy come this morning. He has some deficits on the left side, more with fine motor than gross motor. The bigger issues are executive functioning and speech. He has some aphasia, mostly with the initiation of speech. He can give one- or two-word answers to simple questions after long pauses, but has difficulty with complex questions or commands. He had some difficulty this morning with organizing tasks (for instance, thinking of the steps needed to brush his teeth). This is all expected as the tumor was in his frontal lobe, next to his prefrontal cortex. The whole area is swollen from the surgery. These are parts of the brain important for motor initiation, executive function, and speech initiation. The surgeon doesn't think he damaged any of these areas, but they are likely being squished by swelling, and it may take a while (up to a month or so) for these functions to recover. 

We spoke with the physical therapist, who recommended going to rehab after this to try to help him recover from these new difficulties. Eric himself said he would feel better getting more therapies, so as of now, that is the plan. He will be in the hospital until at least Monday or so, and then likely go to an acute rehab facility for 1-2 weeks.

We are all surviving at home. We were hopeful for a surgery with no complications, but of course that is not always the reality. Ultimately, what matters in the long run is that these deficits are likely transient, and the surgeon thinks he did a full resection. And of course, the results of the genetics and pathology will give us a better idea of the final cancer treatment plan and prognosis. So now it's a waiting game- waiting for Eric's brain swelling to go down and for him to recover, waiting for tumor results.

Thank you all for your prayers yesterday. We truly felt lifted by angels. <3

Comments

  1. Judy DushkuOctober 31, 2025 at 9:01 PM

    Darling Lindsay and Eric, Holding you in heart and thinking of you so often these weeks, and especially yesterday and today, I feel like I know you better than I actually do. I am right there with you and so glad to hear this progress thus far. Do you like the surgeon? Is he personable and informative to you? I am hearing all the. little details of the surgery and understanding more and more about how complex it had to be with all those little parts to be concerned about. I am so glad you got this doctor that you wanted. Blessings on you and the girls as this rehab and recovery go on. Love, Judy

    ReplyDelete
  2. LindsayNovember 8, 2025 at 8:08 AM

    Hi Judy, yes, he is a good surgeon! He is very personable. We are grateful to have him. Thank you so much for your kindness/prayers.

    ReplyDelete

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