The Longest Day

Good morning, it's Nicole's mother, Susan, taking over at the writing desk helm for Nicole while she's in Johns Hopkins.

Tuesday, September 22nd proved to be one of the longest days in my life and probably feelings were the same for Matt and Nicole's father, Rick.

At 5:15am we arrived at the hospital and were waiting in the first of many waiting rooms with at least 10 other patients and their families scheduled to have surgery that morning. Nicole was taken back to be prepped for surgery. At 7am Matt, Rick and myself were allowed to meet in the surgical prep area (see photo). We were the last to be called back as there had only been one phlebotomist that morning and Nicole was the final patient to get her IV started.

Dr. F, the main ENT surgeon, had already been in as they had not been able to find Nicole's surgical consent earlier and had her re-sign that paperwork. While we were with Nicole, Dr. Z, anesthesiologist, completed her examination and Dr. S, another ENT surgeon, (Dr. F's associate) marked the L side of her head (Yes, let's get that right.). Dr. S will be the physician to test her swallowing capacity on Thursday. Until then she's NPO. Dr. Sa, the head anesthesiologist, and Dr. T, the head neurosurgeon also came by.

At 7:30am, Matt, Rick and myself were moved to the GOR (general operating room family waiting area). We were told it could be an hour before they would actually begin the surgery. Our first update came at 9:24am indicating the surgery was underway with Dr. T beginning the procedure.

Our second update came at 11:05am - they were still operating.

Our third update came at 1pm. Nicole was stable and Dr. F was ready to begin his component of the surgery. Nicole's uncle, Steve, came to join us in 'the wait'.

Our fourth update came at 3pm. They hoped to be finished by 5pm.

By 4pm everyone from our original group of surgical patient family members beginning at 5:15am had met with their surgeons and had gone to recovery. Even the renowned Dr. Ben Carson had completed three surgeries in this time frame - had come to talk with three different families and we were still sitting there. Nicole's cousin, Cammie, had joined us as we waited....

At 4:30pm we were told the procedure would be 45 minutes more and that everything was going well. By this point I sincerely doubted they would have told us otherwise. What were they going to tell you over the waiting room phone - 'things aren't going so well?' This is when the waiting got to be a very long process....

At 6pm Dr. T came out to speak with us. The tumor was a VS and he felt he got it all! Dr. T indicated if you had an option to pick a VS or a meningioma, this was the way to go. The tumor was pretty stuck to the facial nerve, so he expected Nicole to have a level of facial paralysis... although he hoped this would resolve with time.

We moved to the NCCU waiting area (Neuro Critical Care Unit). Again to sit and wait until we could see her. I was really anxious about this part of the day as I remembered how horrible my father looked after his brain surgery for a meningioma. When Matt and I were able to go back around 6:30pm, she looked amazing! They had only shaved the area of hair behind her ear and she wasn't bandaged all over her head. There was the predicted swelling and some roving eye movements, but truly incredible for what she had been through. She was having some trouble breathing and wanted to cough. She was getting a little anxious because she couldn't clear her lungs and couldn't swallow so they gave her a nebulizer treatment with Albuterol to open her airway, which seemed to help. There were some right lower lobe concerns which they were going to watch overnight. She had also been on medication for low blood pressure, which they hoped to wean her off of. When a short PE was performed she did really well, but as expected, she couldn't focus both eyes without dizziness and nausea. There was also the aspect of not being able to swallow. She expressed fear to the nursing staff that she was going to fall asleep and aspirate. She said her pain level was a 7 out of 10.

By 8pm (visiting hours had been 5-8pm), Matt, myself, Rick, Steve and Cammie had been given a few minutes each to spend with her. At 8:20pm, Matt and I were asked, in a kind way, to leave so she could rest. The staff was to call Matt if there were any concerns which developed overnight.