A Day of Tests

This morning around 9am Dr. Lavine came to see us and let us know what the plan was. After looking at the CT Scan that was taken yesterday he came to the conclusion that Ben did not have AVM and in fact the blood vessels had just been compressed from the tumor. He let us know that they had scheduled the surgery for, tomorrow, Thursday. They got blood work back which came back negative which just means they still don't know what type of tumor it is. They also still are unsure if there is one or two tumors. At this point it looks like two separated by a thin layer but they are quite sure if the tumor had infiltrated the white matter which could mean that it is only one tumor. They also still don't know if the tumor originated in the brain or if it came from some other area in the body. Today Ben underwent many tests to find out if it may have come from somewhere else. After the surgery they will do a preliminary biopsy that will begin to tell us what kind of brain tumor it is and where it originated. We won't know for sure what it is for at least a week. The surgery is scheduled for 8:30am Central time and should take about 4-6 hours so please please pray for Ben during this time. Ben will be awake for most of the surgery. He will begin the surgery asleep while they open up the skull, then they will wake him up while they actually take out the tumor and then they will put him back out when they close him up. Dr. Lavine also said they will not need to shave him head and will just make a part in his hair and make an incision from the top of his head down to his ear on the left side. One of the things he said we should be prepared for is weakness on the right side of his body and speech problems. We are hoping for the best but there is always the risk of complete paralysis and not being able to speak at all. If he does end up with speech problems he may have the ability to regain it. Dr. Lavine said that because he is young he has a good chance to regain what he may lose. He said Raider and him might be learning the same things at the same time.

Some of the tests Ben had today were an ultrasound and CT scan to see if they saw any cancer sites in other areas of his body. He also had a functional MRI and spoke with a neuro-psychologist. It was so crazy because the neuro-psychologist asked Ben where he went to school and Ben said Valpo. The guy almost fell over because he also had gone to Valpo for his undergrad. It is amazing how you run into another Valpo alum at a Texas hospital. The functional MRI was to help map out Ben's brain and where is motor and speech pathways were. The neuro-psych said that the tumor was affecting Ben's ability to remember a sequence of things. So if you told Ben to do something with 7 steps he might only remember step 2 and 4, and forget there were a step 1, 3, 5, 6, and 7.

We are all feeling very anxious but hopeful for tomorrow and are glad Jenna has arrived. At this time my mom is still on her way and we will not see her till tomorrow morning before surgery. Like I said please please pray for Ben starting at 8:30am Central time.