It has taken me over 45mins to even get this entry started as my laptop has decided to commence the end of its useful life.
I set up a mass email group in 'gmail' from the computer last night but unfortunately I have since learned that it does not work when accessed from mobiles. I then resorted to SMSs.
The day started with Maria and I departing home @ 5:30am, but not before bidding farewell to the kids. It was cold and the fog quite heavy. While waiting to be admitted, Janelle arrived.
Maria wanted me to take a shot of her in her designer outfit. When you see her, it is hard to imagine what has actually been happening inside of her head! She was wheeled off at 7:40am.
Janelle and I took over a section of the ICU waiting room for the anticipated arrivals. We then found the cafe for my first of what would be a few coffees for the day. For my Israeli friends, have to say I prefer 'Aroma'.
Effie arrived after having taken the kids to school. Maria's parents and Aunty came a while later, followed by my parents. It was then a long waiting game. It was good opportunity to immerse in the scripture, lean on His promises and have prayer time(s).
The Neurosurgeon met with me and Maria's parents about 2:45pm. He explained that Maria was amazingly tough, calm and relaxed (the prayer coverage). They had her awake in two sessions, of which she only recalls the second. She was awake for up to four hours of the operation. His summary was something like this:
- When they "opened her up", they found a significant infection.
- He is fairly certain the infection was introduced during the first surgery and then "sealed" in by the radiotherapy.
- The infection caused the whole area to almost glue together. This caused its own challenges when working through removal of the puss, tumour while moving around the major arteries.
- They had the infection tested immediately and the lab found it to contain a whole range of nasty micro-organisms.
- As the flap of skull from the first craniotomy was infected (possible initial point of introduction of infection) he replaced it with a piece of titanium.
- She was on large doses of antibiotics to control the infection, but as they planned to wake her shortly, that was the critical time. If she was having trouble, they would have to insert a shunt for drainage, which was not ideal because it is introducing a foreign body to her system.
- Given the circumstances her was happy with the amount of tumour and oedema he was able to remove. He only needed a smaller incision on the left. Another praise point (and they keep coming) was that there was no need to enter through the right (preserving that side of the brain).
- Neurologically she was consistently fine throughout until towards the end when she was slurring her speech. An increase in fluids and a position change seemed to help.
- As he films his surgeries, he is going to show it to me so I get a better appreciation of the extent of the infection.
As you can imagine Maria's parents were overcome with emotion, although we weren't "out of the woods" by any stretch. I was at complete peace because as with the first surgery, I always had a sense she'd come out of the surgery.
A little while later (some time before 4pm) the Anaesthetist came to me and said Maria was asking to see me in recovery before going into ICU. She said they made a special dispensation for me and I was able to see Maria briefly. Maria was lucid, looking so well and introducing me to all the nurses by name. They were amazed at her initial recovery. The Anaesthetist was also amazingly impressed with Maria throughout the surgery. It has been great to then use that and witness to those practitioners.
About 6:30pm I was able to sit in ICU with Maria. She was laughing, joking and praising God for the way she has come out of this critical surgery, especially when you consider the amount of infection present. She was eating a sandwich and was happy to see Janelle (who had to head back to the Blue Mtns) and the kids a little later, but was obviously exhausted.
During the late afternoon and evening I got to chat with some of the other families in the waiting room and have developed a rapport with them. Their family members have a range of issues, with some far more critical than others.
The kids came in with Effie around 7pm. They were a bit nervous, but relaxed some when seeing Maria. As anticipated, Ben was interested in all the instruments and nurses carrying big needles, while Gabi was focused on how she could get close to Maria without hurting her. The nurses allowed me to take a couple of photos.
At school today, Gabi won a football by answering a correct answer. I'm still not clear on the detail, but a footballer gave her the ball and a photo was taken of them. I don't know whether or not it was in any way connected with Maria's surgery. I suspect not, as Ben didn't have the same success in his sports lesson.
Maria kicked me out @ 9:30pm, wanting to get some sleep. ICU is quite noisy, certainly not the place for rest. The ICU nurses (like everyone else to date) have been very professional and helpful.
Maria mentioned to me that they were unable to implant the Gliadel wafers because of the infection. That is a closed door for now. Tomorrow an MRI will be done to see how successful the surgery was as it was quite a mess.
Thanks to all of you out there (and there are many) for your prayers to God for our immediate and extended family, but most importantly for Maria. Maria also asked me to pass on her deepest gratitude. We both pass onto HIM the glory and praise for where we are at right now. It could have been so much worse!
