My wife is recovering from her brain shunt surgery. With a bit of luck maybe she can go home tomorrow or Tuesday. Still have some work to do to get her off a catheter (so she needs to be able to walk a bit with support) and IV medication. Half her head is shaved (even though it was pretty short already from previous surgery and radiation) but she doesn't care too much given she is going to lose it in the next couple days from the prior chemo or when the WBR starts.
My wife is recovering from her brain shunt surgery. With a bit of luck maybe she can go home tomorrow or Tuesday. Still have some work to do to get her off a catheter (so she needs to be able to walk a bit with support) and IV medication. Half her head is shaved (even though it was pretty short already from previous surgery and radiation) but she doesn't care too much given she is going to lose it in the next couple days from the prior chemo or when the WBR starts. There is some tension between the neurosurgeon and the radiation oncologist about when to start the WBR – it is scheduled for this Tuesday but the neurosurgeon wants to wait a bit longer to let the surgical site heal. She has douple vision which we hope resolves now that her brain is buoyant instead of being pushed down on her optic nerve. She is understandably sad that she cannot have chemo anymore (can't do chemo and WBR at same time and the chemo isn't going to work on her spinal fluid cancer) and hopeful the WBR buys her some time without impinging too much more on her cognitive capabilities.
I wish there was something else we could do, but we are really at an end to treatment and now it's about palliation. That means it's all about pain control. And balancing pain control with nausea. It's been a challenge here in the hospital – with IV delivery – be interesting to find out how I can manage with oral meds.
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