Surgery Update

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 anymore so far which is amazing cause they were horrific for him.

Today Ben has seemed a lot more like himself and ate for the first time since the op and is doing really well over all:) The head drain came out which looked pretty painful but is head started to swell and got more painful as the day progressed, the nurse said his face will probably bruise in the next couple days because of it.  He got a visit from an OT and a physio which was really nice as he got out and walked round with them a bit which was very encouraging to see :)This morning the surgeons reg dropped in to see  how he was doing but didn't go much in to detail about the surgery just that it went well that they got it all out. This kinda confused me and still does cause I thought that gliomas were intertwined with the brain tissue, making it impossible to remove all of it.. I dunno if he meant all that they could see on the MRI or what but yeah thats good news of course but hopefully on Monday we'll get a fuller picture once we've discussed things with the surgeon and perhaps we'll be able to have a look at his pre and post op scan to see where we stand. Results of grading etc won't be till sometime next week which is sooo terrifying.

Thank you all for your support & prayers, I'm sure Ben will fill you in with a lot more once he feels up to it that I've probably forgotten! xxx

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