Maxine's Post surgery update

Friday morning: 8:30am

I just got off the phone with Dad (Marty) and things are looking good!Sugery started at 4:00 yesterday afternoon and ended about 8:30 last night. As soon as 9:00, Marty was right there with her and she was responsive, holding Dad's hand. Although her eyes were closed, she was already telling Dad that she was here to stay; reassuring him with her touch. 

Dad returned the notion and stayed by Mom's bedside all night, not leaving once. She awoke this morning to find him next to her, snoring I'm sure! If you have ever stayed at Marty and Maxine's house, you know what I'm talking about! 

I spoke with Dad at 8:30 this morning abd was reassured by Mom's voice in the background that she was doing as well as could be expected. She has a slight headache (to be expected) but has not accepted any pain medication. As I was talking to Dad, he said she was very lucid, wanting to brush her teeth and go shopping for wigs! (Stay tunned for later pictures of wig possibilites!) I aksed her what it was like to be bald and she said she wasn't sure yet but wasn't looking forward to it either. I told her now would be a good time to go for a different look, maybe a red head or even a blonde! To that she tried to laugh....... it was a good sign to me that she will slowly return to herself. 

For those of you who aren't quite sure what took place with the surgery here it is:

The doctors cut through the front temporal region of her head. Basically where your hairline begins and back a few inches. They went in to the temporal part of the brain which is what controls your emotions/ personality behaviors. Once inside, they began the tedious process of removing what they could of the lemon-sized tumor. They were able to remove about 70-80% of the tumor. She has what is called a glioblastoma. This definition is taken from wikipedia:

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most common and most aggressive type of primary brain tumor, accounting for 52% of all primary brain tumor cases and 20% of all intracranial tumors. Despite being the most prevalent form of primary brain tumor, GBMs occur in only 2-3 cases per 100,000 people in Europe and North America. 

Treatment can involve chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and surgery, all of which are acknowledged as palliativemeasures, meaning that they do not provide a cure. Even with complete surgical resection of the tumor, combined with the best available treatment, the survival rate for GBM remains very low. However, many advances in microsurgery techniques, radiotherapy and chemotherapy are slowly increasing the survival time of patients diagnosed with glioblastoma.

We are pretty hopeful knowing that she is awake this morning and are now waiting to meet with the doctors to hopefully give us their opinions of what happened during the surgery and what to expect now that the surgery is done. Please continue to pray and look here for further updates. I hope to update this if not every night then definetly every two days. Thank you for all your prayers and concerns for the Hooper family at this most crucial time. We are faithful that God can and will bring her through this. Praise be to God for His mercies!

Tara Hooper