questions

If anyone has any questions that I havent answered here or you want to know more about something, just let me know. I'm not really sure of what people know and dont know so I dont really know what to write.

Brain Surgery Take 2

So now it has been just about a year since Jeff’s first brain surgery and until about a month ago we thought we were in the clear. Jeff’s eyes have been progressively getting worse since the surgery and we have been going to different eye doctors to see what the problem was. It wasn’t until last month when we went to see a neuro-ophthamologist that we found out a new lesion is pushing on the optic nerve in his brain. The neurosurgeon looked on Jeff’s last routine MRI and found new lesions. The decision was made to go back in and get a piece of these new lesions that are growing to try and decipher what exactly is growing in there. This time the surgery will only be the start of our journey. Once they figure out what exactly is growing, they will make a game plan from there. So it looks like we have another year of hospitals and doctors and waiting for answers. The surgery was initially scheduled for February 8th and was cancelled about a week prior and we have been waiting for a new date since. After some slight harassment on Jeff’s part (calling and e-mailing the surgeon every few days), he was scheduled in for March 4th.

The beginning

I'll give a little recap for all of you who are unsure about what it going on with Jeff and his health. Last March (2010) Jeff had a CT scan which revealed a rather large tumour in his brain. For all you technical people out there, it was a mature teratoma residing in the 3rd ventricle of the brain. So basically it was a tumour made up of skin, nerve, cartilage, muscle, and hair follicle cells located in the very centre of the brain.

If you look on this diagram you can see where it points to the third ventricle.

Jeff had brain surgery in April 2010 to remove the tumour and recovery was slow. Some complications were seen when he developed Diabetes Incipidus which is basically a sodium problem. After 3 weeks in the hospital in Calgary, Jeff was transferred to the Lethbridge Hospital for another 5 days.

Since then Jeff's recovery has been slow and in July 2010 he was set back by a grand mal seizure. The summer was spent recovering and in September he was back in school and actually doing very well.