Answered Prayers

When Dr. Spetzler, the brain surgeon, told Rhea-Rhea that he felt she would have a very successful surgery she said:
"Oh, I know! Seriously, I have the BEST luck ever... well... except for the brain tumor!"

Answered Prayers, you say?? Surgery, you say??
Yes! Read on.

Rhea-Lynn met with the brain surgeon, Dr. Robert Spetzler Wednesday afternoon. He reviewed her MRI's and said:

1. It is definitely a "low-grade tumor".
(low-grade = better than high-grade)

2. It is almost certainty NOT malignant (cancerous) right now... but it could turn malignant or grow at any time in the future. Rather than take a chance, he wants to remove it.

3. It is NOT an emergency procedure, but does need to be done.

4. The surgery is called a "Tumor Resection". There is no functioning brain tissue within the tumor, but the tumor is located in an area of her brain that is surrounded by functioning brain tissue. When he operates, he will remove as much of the tumor as he can without getting too close to the functioning brain tissue surrounding it to risk causing damage.

She is scheduled to have the surgery Monday morning (as in THIS Monday Morning... February 2) at 7 AM. The surgery is at Barrow Medical Institute, which is located in St. Joseph's Hospital. It will be a 4-6 hour operation. She will be in ICU for 1-2 days with another 3-5 days in the hospital following the surgery. No flowers or visitors (except immediate family) are permitted in the ICU. She will need to take off 4-6 weeks of work for recovery. After her surgery a pathologist will determine what type of tumor it is (benign, malignant). From there, Dr. Spetzler will decide on what care/treatments to do. Oh, he also said that IF they treat it with radiation, it's not the type that causes hair loss. (R-R was REAL happy to hear that)

Dr. Spetzler is very confident that she is going to be JUST FINE. Rhea-Rhea is SOO EXCITED... pumped out of her mind, actually. She just wants to "ditch it"! She would have gone under the knife tonight, if it were up to her. The secretary that scheduled the surgery was cracking up. She said she had never seen someone so excited for brain surgery!

It really is a miracle that she was able to get in so soon. Dr. Spetzler is world renowned and has a very busy schedule. The fact that he is wanting, and available, to operate, even though he doesn't consider it an "emergency", are proof to me that Heavenly Father is listening to our prayers and taking care of Rhea-Rhea. The last few weeks have been difficult... sitting around... worrying... trying not to worry... trying to be busy... trying to sleep.... and so on and so forth. Rhea-Lynn is a strong girl and for her, facing surgery is actually easier than facing more waiting. Ya know?

Keep up the prayers. They work!