Pearl Jr.'s birthday has been scheduled!!

What a day!  My heart is so full from all of the great things that went on today.  First of all, it was my daughters' last day of school.  From left to right, last day of 5th and 4th grade.  And it was a beautiful day to walk to school, which was fortunate because we've had rain and storms alllll week.  So grateful to walk on this last day of elementary school for my now-middle-schooler, just like we did on the first day of kindergarten so many years ago.  We have walked every day that the weather has permitted us to do so!  0.7 miles.  My marvelous neighbor, M, and I are a walking school bus! 

It was school spirit day, so they painted their faces with the school colors.  Thor the dog has excellent school spirit--black fur with orange leash.   

Secondly, when I got back to the house after the walk, my phone started ringing, and for once it wasn't a robo-call!  It was Dr. Deep-Seated Tumor Neurosurgeon, personally calling me to chat about things!  WOW!  I was very impressed that he would take the time to do this.  Usually the nurses call, sometimes the schedulers but usually the nurses make the call, answer my questions, then transfer me to the schedulers.  This was Dr. D-STN  himself!  He called to say that the tumor board agrees that surgical removal of the tumor is my best option at this point.  He confirmed that a little bit of Lloyd will remain in there, and that Dr. Radiation Oncologist has a plan to blast it with a CyberKnife (I don't know anything about this yet, and google is yielding too many answers at this moment so I'll wait until I've had a chance to ask my questions then blog it up).  He also told me a bit more about the surgery:  He'll just make a small incision in my right eyebrow: eyebrow craniotomy is what it's called.  That's it!  So I haven't read this yet, but here's what I think is a reputable a link from Johns Hopkins to information about the eyebrow craniotomy procedure.  I don't plan to read it until after the procedure.  Dr. D-STN said that the main side effects include black eye, possible eye swelling, and possible eyebrow disability for 3 months.  Most patients recover full range of eyebrow mobility by that time, which is heartening because my right eyebrow is the one with enhanced abilities!  It's the one I can raise by itself!  Eyebrow joking aside, guess how long my anticipated hospital stay is....?  You'll never guess.  Two days!  He said I'll be up and walking the SAME DAY, and in the hospital a mere 2 days, (he mostly said two days, but the range he eventually gave was 2-5 days.  He said if my eye swells shut I won't be discharged until it opens.  And I seem to be a super sweller!  So we'll see.  Also, if I experience any of that left-side paralysis business that would extend my stay as well, into some sort of inpatient physical therapy.)  The picture he painted very much put me at ease.  Of course it's a big deal, but this sounds super manageable!!  

I think I'm going to refrain from putting the surgery date on the blog, because everyone wants to be soooo helpful but sometimes we are overwhelmed by the outpouring from Carnation Nation!  My goal by keeping the date private is to allow my kids the space to deal with all of this as they will, with the people they are closest to, without me inadvertently creating a circus while I'm in the hospital.  You can expect that the deed will be done by the close of June, and if you need to know the date you will be communicated the date.  When I come out the other side with my wits about me, one of the first things I'm gonna want to do is blog it up!  Because that's the way I roll. 

In regards to CAR-T, I finally got through the new patient hotline, and someone emailed me instead of calling, which was very nice.  Also, I discussed this CAR-T Her2+ brain metastasis clinical trial opportunity with Dr. Oncologist, and she wasn't too excited about it.  She said that the side effects of CAR-T can be pretty nasty.  I read about them, and I thought that they didn't sound too bad compared to dying of metastatic breast cancer.  BUT her main point is that I don't have cancer anywhere else, just the one brain met, so if we can get it under control with surgery and follow-up radiation, that's still my best option.  Plus, the CAR-T Her2+ trial is phase 1, so that is not very far along.  Phase 1 trials are toxicity trials.  SO, CAR-T Her2+ brain met trial is not on the table for hbomb at this point in time.  And that's fine with me!  The location of the trial is in California at the City of Hope medical center. So that would have been another issue, too.  One less thing to stress about!!

Thirdly, summer vacation #1 will commence very soon, and will occur before Pearl Jr.'s birthday/Lloyd's death day.  We're coming for you, brother!