Today's recap

Well today was overall a good day. Mimi reported to Pre-op at about 5:30 @ Alligence. All the usuals were started. By 7:15 we said our goodbye's to Mimi. At that point they had already given her some medication to relax her so when we said our well wishes she was nice and comfy.

They gave us a pager (similar to the ones you get at a restraunt :-). At about 8:15 we got a page that surgery had begun. We entertianed ourselves in the waiting room. Me, Tina, Angie and Nuna just chatted it up and made jokes to keep the mood light. They told us it would take about 3 hours. By the time 11:15 came around we were starting to get anxious because we hadn't heard anything. The hospital has a guy working who's job was to just keep us informed and updated on changes. That was helpful because it just helped us relax and know what we were waiting on. Around 11:30 she was in recovery they told us and then we headed to lunch in the cafeteria. She stayed in recovery for about an hour and a half.

Dr. Kotecha came out to talk to us... in a nutshell: basically he removed everything he could safely. He placed the gliadel wafers (chemo wafers). Nuna asked him how large the tumor was and he showed us with his hands... we were all a bit surprised with how large it actually was. He mentioned that we would now just wait and let her heal and then she may be eligible to do some radiation once all this is healed.

A friend of mine who is a CCU nurse (we saw her in the cafeteria) said that Mimi would be on her unit. I was thrilled to hear that because I asked Riki to keep her eye on Mimi and I knew she was then in good hands. They let us go in the CCU 2 people at a time to see her. Tina and Nuna went to see her first. She said a couple of silly things to Tina! Angie and I went in and chatted with her.

We were both VERY impressed with how great she looked. We had assumed they would shave the back of her head... not so. She has stitches back there but it looked great. She was a bit silly with us because of the medications, but of course wanted to be sure that everyone else was doing ok. We reassured her that yep we had gotten our coffee and lunch and we were all good to go... leave it to Mimi to be concerned about others after HER brain surgery!

I spoke with the nurse around 6pm because I was feeling the pull to go up there. I was worried about her being alone although I am sure she is in great hands and is getting the rest that she desperately needs. The nurse said that she was doing very well and was eating. Mimi was very hungry after surgery so that made her happy to get something to eat! They said she would go for a repeat MRI this evening just to be sure everything was ok.

Thats about it for today!

Thank you so much everyone for your prayers. I think we all felt very much at peace knowing that people all over the US and even as far as her friends in London were praying for her. There was certainly a peace and what felt like a blanket of prayers going up for her. I don't think it could have gone better. It was great to see her so capable after surgery so soon! WE LOVE YOU MIMI... now onto the healing prayers everyone! Thank you so much!