operation

Last night, Mom was moved out of the Neuroscience ICU to the floor above, a non-intensive ward. She now has a roommate, separated by a curtain. Visiting hours in this new ward are restricted: 10AM to 8PM. In the ICU, only two and a half hours per day were verboten (7:00-8:30AM, and 7-8PM), as that was when the doctors did patient rounds. The new ward doesn't restrict cell phone use.

Mom was moved to this ward because she had been given steroids that reduced the swelling and resultant pressure of both the tumor and the edema. Her cognitive faculties had noticeably returned yesterday; I was with her for most of the day. She's not 100%; I wouldn't expect her to be.

The neuroscience team has yet to see Mom and evaluate her, but she's had the full-body scan, which was negative for any other masses, thank goodness. Surgery to extract Mom's brain tumor, while not explicitly scheduled at this point, is an almost definite prospect. Mom was informed that the staff would have to "do her hair," as she put it, for surgical purposes. She didn't look too thrilled about that.

Guess what I plan to do as a gesture of solidarity. Life is going to be so much simpler without hair. And, hell, I've spent years looking for an excuse to do this.

UPDATE: The neuro team came to see Mom earlier this morning, before patient visiting hours, and told her that surgery was most likely scheduled for Tuesday. She will remain on the steroid drip until Tuesday and beyond, as brain surgery is essentially another form of trauma to the brain, causing it to swell. As you might imagine, I didn't get this info from Mom, but from the doc who's watching over the ward Mom's currently in.


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