Ben's Brain Tumour Blog

Hiya, just for a quick post surgery update, this is Renee, Bens girlfriend.  Ben over all is doing really well and is ok so far thank God:)! The day before surgery Ben needed a contrast MRI which we weren't aware of but apparently it is routine in order to map out anatomy relating to the tumour. The operation happened yesterday morning (30/1/14) and took around 5 hours and was finished round 12 pm, we were then allowed to see him around half 6 where he was moved from recovery to the ward. He was awake and able to speak and was with it but was very very drowsy and in a lot of pain and was hooked up to oxygen,catheter, head drain, drip and some pulse monitor thing. His movement seems fairly the same but still had a left side weakness. He was given morphine which he does not react well with and had hot flushes, nausea and panic attacks, he was also given IV paracetamol which made the pain pretty manageable.He was given steroids intravenously during the op but hasn't had to have an

Off to London in a few hours for Surgery. Not looking forward for to having my brain chopped open or having a catheter inserted, but its got to happen. Not sure when i can post the next update. may get Rene to do it after Surgery. Have a good week all :)

I found this on the website of a neurosurgeon at NHNN, and i'm fairly confident this is the theatre and part of the the imaging procedure I will be having in two weeks time. http://www.everywhereist.com/20-things-you-can-expect-after-brain-surgery/ http://www.advanced-neurosurgery.com/#/video-craniotomy-for-tumour/4571532920

My headaches have been pretty bad this past week. Whether its tumour activity or just the stress of the upcoming surgery I don’t know, but I knew I wanted the surgery over with so I could move on. Unfortunately for me there are a number of emergencies coming in this week so my surgery has been postponed for a couple of weeks. New date is the 30 th . Knowing my luck I’ll get that cold I’ve been trying to avoid and be cancelled again. Obviously the cancellation is completely understandable and we were forewarned this could happen. It will mean surgery is 4 and half months after diagnosis which is a pretty long time to be living in limbo. Hopefully the headaches were stress related and will die down for the mean time.

Hey all, hope everyone following had a good Christmas period. Mine was pretty good even with upcoming surgery hanging over me. Met a few old friends and had plenty of time with the family. Unfortunately Rene has a cold so im not allowed to see her pre-op. Having the question ‘so what are you up to now?’ asked over and over again became a bit much to answer. I think because the way I cope with cancer day to day is to not think about it, pretend it’s not really happening. But telling people and seeing their reaction brings it back. My new therapist seems to think putting it all to the back of my mind and pretending it’s not really happening apart from important times such as medical appointments is the best way of coping so I’ll carry on like that, haven’t done any reading or research about it for a couple weeks. 8 th of January, one week away from my craniotomy I went back up to London for the pre-op assessment. 5:50am train and got home at 11pm. These day trips to London aren’