Day 3, Evening

(Email update to family on Mar 24, recorded here on Mar 28)

Amber continues to stay stable, which was our goal. She also had a feeding tube put in.

We met with Doctor Paul today. He reminds of Santa by not just looks but in his gentle kind demeanor. He explained a bit further of Amber’s surgery. He said that the tumor was removed in the right Temporal lobe. He said that having this tumor on the right side is the “better” of the sides to have it on. The left side is where most of the functions happen where on the right side is for memory…and thankfully the bleeding did not seep into the memory area. When they went in to get the tumor and extract it, it left a golf ball sized pocket which after reviewing the CT scan, has shrunk back down to about the size of a fingernail.

I asked Dr. Paul’s opinion on why. He said it’s not what she ate, or where she lives or anything like that. It’s just one of those unfortunate situation where some of the cells get out of whack and have a mind of their own.

And tomorrow, if everything continues looking good, they will slowly begin reducing the sedation to see if Amber reacts to things. This is a big step, will begin telling us a bit about how her recovery will be, along with the MRI and biopsy results on Monday.

Also, big day because Amber got to have a visit from her siblings and grandparents! The kids did well with seeing her for the first time, each reacting in their own way. They did some art projects here too (we had Lauren from Child Services help us out), which are hanging on Amber’s walls now.

While reducing the sedation means we don’t want to overstimulate Amber, we will be open for Aunt/Uncle visits soon, and will open up to others later.

Ok, I think (hope) that’s everything for today.