Pre-Op at Stanford

We got to the hotel Monday evening about 7 o'clock since we got a late start. I was playing with Mackenzie and she actually sat for a few moments by herself on the bed. Of course I grabbed the camera and my Mom and I attempted to recreate the moment and capture it on film. Uh, you can imagine how that went.



Down at Stanford the weather was gorgeous. That was great since we not only had to meet with Dr. Jackler at the ENT clinic but, also with OR people in the main hospital. Wow, what a busy place. There were people around you most of the time with gurneys wheeling by with people on them. We left the organized chaos and stopped for a minute outside amongst the flowers. Here's a picture of my Mom and Mackenzie.

My pre-op appointment went fine. It started with the usual temperature and blood pressure check. Then, one of the resident doctors in the ENT clinic went over the procedure with me while making sure all the paperwork was in order. She's lucky I could read the doctors' writing better than she could. It must be all my experience reading student papers. They really should add a penmanship class to the doctors' inservice and relicensing program.

I met briefly with Dr. Jackler and his sidekick Dr. Monefared with several medical students shadowing them. Dr. Jackler pointed out a few things on my head to them. The most startling to me was when he took a close look at my old incision site as he was telling them that the team was going to reuse it. He said, "Hmm, this is going to be close. The facial nerve is likely really close by so we'll need to be very careful cutting through the skin and immediately begin testing tissue and looking for it." I think he noticed my eyes bugging out of my head. He reassured me that they will be going very slowly and doing everything possible to preserve the facial nerve though it is likely they will need to pry it out of the scar tissue or possibly off the tumor. Therefore I would experience temporary facial paralysis on my left side again. Even if they had to take the facial nerve he reminded me that they would not leave me with total paralysis on my left side.

I also asked about whether he and Dr. Harsh, the neurosurgeon, had reconciled their difference of opinion regarding the stomach tube and tracheotomy. Dr. Jackler stated his position as before that I would not likely need them since there would be no new nerve damage. He also added that he is the head surgeon and Dr. Harsh is an assisting surgeon so nothing happens unless he says so. I glanced at Dr. Monefared, to read how confident he was in this answer from Dr. Jackler, and he gave me the, I told you he's the boss look. I then nodded in acceptance. I also asked how far apart the surgeries would be if he decided the tumor needed to come out in two surgeries. He informed me they would be about 6 weeks apart to allow the dura around the brain to completely heal. I informed my Mom who was tentatively looking at going back to Iowa the second week in November. She calmly restated that she is out to help me as long as I need it and that she can change the date she flys home if needed. Boy am I lucky to have such a great Mom.

Then I went to the OR area for blood test, urine test, and chest x-ray. I was very impressed with the hospital gown I had to put on for my chest x-ray. It is actually flannel material. I asked the technician if this is the standard gown throughout the hospital and he said yes. Here it is...

After all my pre-op stuff was done we drove over to Sacramento to visit with my Uncle David and Auntie Diane and stay the night to break the drive up a bit. We enjoyed visiting with them.

Here's Auntie Diane and my Mom, Debra.

Snacks, including Auntie Diane's homemade wine jelly on top of cream cheese. All of which were delicious and went well with the VJB wine.

Me and Scruffy having dinner.

It was hard to leave but, Uncle David and Auntie Diane are going to be coming over to Palo Alto when I have my surgery next week. It will be great having them there for support.

We made pretty good time on the way home and didn't stop much. But, we did stop at Confusion Hill because someone pooped her pants. Here's a hint it wasn't Mom or I. Here's a picture of Mackenzie and I with Mackenzie all fresh and clean and ready to drive the rest of the way home.