Praying Friends,
We made it into Seattle just fine yesterday. Cassie had one seizure on the plan from Anchorage, but it was a pretty quiet one.
Today we were at two appointments. The first being a physical and pre-anesthesia consultation and the second being a consultation with the surgeon, Dr Jeff Ojemann.
The procedure that will be done tomorrow is known as a Left Hemispherectomy. Definition can be found here: http://www.surgeryencyclopedia.com/Fi-La/Hemispherectomy.html
The difference in Cassie's case is that the damage referred to has not come from seizure activity as much as the Cerebral Palsy she has had from birth where that area is already damaged. There are alot of articles that also talk about regaining functions after such a procedure. Again, in Cassie's case, she had already had a lifetime of rerouting and compensation, and the belief is that the only thing that is happening on this side is the seizures.
There has never been any indication that Cassie has had any abnormal activity on the right side of her brain, so this procedure should totally remove the seizures with little ill-effect. However, there is also the possibility that anything that might be happening on the other side of her brain has been overshadowed by left-brain activity. If this is the case, she could continue to have problems.
I am absolutely amazed at the "redundancy" present in the brain. Kris and I are having a hard time "getting our brains" around such a concept as this procedure. We are very confident that the doctors know exactly what they are doing, and the last time we checked, God has not vacated His throne, taken a holiday. Kris, Cassie, and I truly rest in the understanding that God is in complete control. No matter what happens, we will continue to praise Him.
Please pray for the additional factor of having other family members with us. We toss around terms and concepts that we have lived with for many, many months. Kris' Mother hasn't seen Cassie in two years, and she had two seizures in her presence this afternoon. Our other daughter, Chelsie, will especially have a difficult time. Not because she can't handle it. She can handle just about anything. But she will have to leave Wednesday. The first 48 hours after the operation aren't the easiest time to leave with the feeling that everything will be OK.
We will be reporting to the Pre-surgery area of the OR tomorrow at 6 am. If all goes well, the surgery will start about 7:30-8am, although emergency situations could "bump" Cassie back. Since she can't eat or drink anything after midnight, being bumped means that much longer before she could eat! So pray that doesn;t happen. The biggest risk during surgery and immediate following is bleeding that causes swelling. They will take additional precautions this time to try to keep the sickness down. She will spend the first night in a neuro Intensive Care unit with her own private nurse.
Chelsie comes in just before 9 tonight. Her birthday is Thursday. We were able to get a cake and candles form a nearby grocery store and we are looking forward to being together. Our oldest, Tyler, is working a "turnaround" for one of the oil refineries back in Alaska. Please pray for him, also.
Thank you for your prayers.
Gary, Kris, and Cassie
By the way, I won;t be back to the hotel room for the next day or so, so I will try to post a short update directly to the blog at http://harrishotline.blogspot.com and then send an e-mail out later.
