Today

Today is Wednesday, our time, and at about noon, they are going to do the surgery. Manford had an MRI yesterday, and we saw pictures afterward of this quite daunting tumor taking over his right frontal lobe--it's about large egg-sized, and there is quite a bit of edema around it. The doctor, who is supposed to be very good, said that it won't be clear until after the surgery whether the symptoms he's having are because of the swelling, in which case they should resolve after surgery, or because of damage to the tissue. They will take as much of it out as they can, but can't be too aggressive because it is the kind of tumor that grows from the brain tissue, and it's hard to separate from healthy tissue. So after they figure out what kind of tumor it is, he'll probably have to have radiation and/or chemotherapy. But for now, we are concentrating on getting through the surgery, which should last 2-3 hours. At least it isn't the kind where he has to be awake. The surgery, then, will be at about 5-8 pm Kansas/Texas time (Tuesday), 3-6 Pacific time, and god knows what time it is in Arizona. I will be waiting with friends who live near the hospital; Joseph will be at his friend's house, and Emily will be at day camp and then with me and the friends near the hospital. He will probably go the the high dependency unit (sounds like a step below ICU) for a day or two, then back to the neurosurgery ward for a total of about 5-7 days, if things go well.