Update 6/17

Hey everyone! It's Elizabeth again. Before I update you all about what's going on and where we are, I'd like to thank everyone who reached out to your connections at Duke for us. We were overwhelmed by the number of people who passed Nathan's name along. You all were so helpful. So, after attaining the 2nd opinion that we were seeking from Duke, we discovered that the "game plan" from both Duke and Vanderbilt were pretty much identical. We are still considering them for future treatment options- but we'll cross that bridge if/when it comes along.  For now, we're sticking with Vandy!

UPDATE:

We are currently in Nashville. Today, Nathan has had a long day full of pre op tests, blood work done, a Functional MRI, and a patient teaching.

The fMRI took around 1.5 hours to complete. During this, Nathan was awake. He was asked to complete simple commands such as moving his right hand, clenching his right fist, coming up with words that start with certain letters, or coming up with lists from different categories such as sports or food, for example. The reason why is because when a person is...say, thinking of words that start with the letter 'c', and they're saying, "cup, color, cat, camping", there's more blood flow to that language area of your brain. The fMRI picks up on this increased blood flow and sort of maps out to the doctor what parts of the brain to stay away from. (For all of you medical people out there, I hope I'm explaining this correctly!) Anyway, Nathan's tumor is pressing on his motor skills and his language areas of his brain (very fragile and risky!), so this fMRI helps to "map out" how Dr. Thompson will conduct the surgery. We don't get any results from this MRI, it's simply an aid for Dr. Thompson.

Next step, pre-op tests! We got the privilege of sitting for 2+ hours in the waiting room for the nurses to draw his blood which took less than 10 minutes. Oh, the joys of hospitals! :)

Last appointment of the day: patient teaching. Dr. Thompson's nurse and right hand (wo)man, Karen, talked to us for over an hour on what to expect before, during, and after Nathan's surgery. We love Karen! She was so helpful and informative. Here's a short summary for you all:

• Nathan's surgery: Left Posterior Frontal Craniotomy
• Surgery date: Friday, June 19th
• Nathan will be admitted at 6am to be prepped for surgery.
• Surgery to start around 8am-8:30am
• Surgery will last approximately 5 hours
• Nathan will be asleep during his surgery.
• After surgery, he will immediately go to Neuro ICU for at least one night. If all goes well, he'll be moved to a regular room and will be in the hospital for 3-4 days.
• Friends and family who are coming the day of surgery, please come to the Main Hospital Lobby.

Tomorrow will be a day of REST! Nathan woke up this morning at 2am and has been up since - not to mention the exhausting day he's had. Please pray that he can get some good rest before Friday. 

I hope this answers any questions that you all may have! Thank you all again for your generous donations, prayers, and messages. We love you and will update everyone as we can!

Much love & many thanks,

Elizabeth