Nothing like we had thought

The Neurosurgeon just came back to talk to me.  Overall the physical surgery went well but his findings are quite bad.

He used a lot of big words so I hope I don’t get this wrong.  The tumor metastasized itself onto the surface of the brain stem and it is cancerous. 

The original 90%/10% split assumed fatty mass versus a cancer in the nerve cell wall.  It did not consider a brain stem problem so it is nothing like we had originally thought.

The surgeon removed about 90% of the tumor but left the 10% in direct contact with the brain stem.  He said that it is likely that the cancer is from the original breast cancer.  He did not know if there was any damage to her hearing or eyesight; We would have to see during her stay in the ICU.

His treatment for the remaining cancer will be largely surgical and will involve that focused radiation knife thing to destroy it.  There may also be some Chemo but he would talk with our Oncologist to work out a plan. 

He made very clear that there is further treatment available and all hope is NOT lost.

I am waiting for the nurse to call me back to the post-op room.  I will update this again with visitation information.

Things just aren’t getting any easier.