The Surgery

I was able to meet the surgeon in between his procedures and I was very thankful for this. He ran through the whole procedure and he told me exactly what he will do and what to expect. He of course shared the risks. For my own note taking reasons and for those who like detail, this is what I heard...

• My tumor is located on the left. They will use my right nostril to go in through. They will break a bone in my nose and move past the sinuses and cut something else near the pituitary gland and the brain.
• The surgery will take about 2 hours.
• There is a good chance in removing all the tumor.
• They plan to take some fat from my stomach and place it in the whole that was left after the tumor is removed.
• My tumor is a good size, not too big, but big enough to be able to see well.
• There is a slight risk of damaging the pituitary gland in which I would then have to take some hormone replacements, depending on what was effected.
• There is a risk of hitting an artery, but my tumor does not appear to be close to an artery from the MRI.
• I will be on a steroid medication for 3 months after surgery. It takes a while for your body to balance out.
• My recovery will be from 2-4 weeks.
• 90% of the patients leave the hospital after one night stay.
• I will have multiple MRI for a while to monitor for growth and eventually taper down after time.
• There is a 10 % chance of regrowth.
• Post-op I can feel like I have a sinus headache and congested for 4 weeks.
• I will be unable to lift anything larger than a milk carton for 4 weeks.
• No blowing nose for 4 weeks.

Monday they will call me a schedule, but it sounded promising that they would be able to work me into their schedule in the next month, as Jared is on vacation and I will need definite help for at least 2 weeks.