You will see that I am now letting “Dr. Sunshine” (aka Jonathan) post on the site as well, both so that he can keep you updated, but also because he is better at articulating some of the medical “stuff” as it comes up.
At the moment, I am still scheduled to have surgery Oct. 8th, but there is still a possibility this might change. The team of doctors that meet and “conference” my case meet on Monday afternoons, and they are not currently in agreement on exactly how the surgery should be done, or even if another test (or two) might be desirable pre-surgery. In addition, the brain scanning team finished analyzing more of their scans and have some great images of my brain to bring to the conference on Monday, so that should help all of them make decisions.
I continue to feel good about this diverse and caring team of docs, and I’m glad to have them take their time in deciding how to proceed. It’s been very interesting to learn about what’s going on inside my brain, and to realize how much it already seems to have shifted the way it works to accommodate the seizures — the simple way to describe it is that different parts of my brain seem to have taken on functions that other parts normally do, probably because of the seizure activity. It would actually be really cool to follow, if it wasn’t happening in my own brain.
As this surgery approaches, I can honestly say that I find myself having an increasingly strong sense of taking great joy and delight in very simple, everyday activities. Cleaning my office (yes, Chip also experienced joy with that!), having coffee with friends, dancing and doing yoga with the many wonderful students/friends that are a part of my life, making dinner for Jake, having a cat in my lap, walking in the rain . . . It feels very easy, right now, just to really love life and not take any of it for granted. Words also seem very precious at the moment, so I am enjoying this time that they come fairly easily (and wondering what it will be like if/when they don’t). Thanks to all of you who are part of my life, in so many ways . . . I feel well loved and surrounded by your prayers and thoughts. I’ll let you know what we find out next week.
Peace and love,
Kristine