The Surgery, or whatever I remember of it…

Sorry – while I wrote this post many weeks ago, I never got around to posting it. This is my best recollection of my surgery that took place on April 1^st, 2014.

The day of diagnosis, we went to meet a surgeon that was recommended to us by my pediatrician. This was within a few hours of us learning the diagnosis, so things were still not so clear. To be honest, once Dr. Myseros took a look at the CT Scan and confirmed the diagnosis and the need for surgery, he freaked me out with the talk about all of the potential things that could happen as a result of this complex surgery but I knew he had to get all of that information out of the way. My parents, who were also stunned by all of the info, were at least reassured that this surgeon would be upfront and honest with us and I also felt that I would rather have someone like that open my brain for a 6 hour surgery.

Even though it was a tough meeting, we really liked this surgeon but my parents wanted a second opinion. Dr. Myseros was very understanding and even gave my parents a few names. He also said that while surgery was absolutely necessary, I was doing well enough to wait a few days. So a couple of days later, we made a day trip to another hospital to meet a top surgeon dealing with my diagnosis, but right away I thought that Dr. Myseros was more focused and upfront with me. The final strike in my head was when that surgeon started texting on his phone while I was talking, so in my head I knew I wanted to go with Dr. Myseros. My parents and I then talked… and talked… and we found an IHOP and had chocolate chip pancakes and talked over that too! Finally I said that I wanted to go with Dr. Myseros and didn’t want to talk about it anymore. I was hoping that my vote would be pretty valuable since it was my brain after all! Of course, my parents listened to me and said that was their gut feeling as well and the decision was made.

As we reached home I saw that two of my uncles had just arrived from California and Ohio and I was so excited. Right away we went outside and started shooting hoops with them and my brother. I really didn’t want to start a game or anything because both of my uncles are like 10 ft. tall! (OK they are 6’ 5’’ or something to be exact). As we were playing, my mom came outside and told me that they already called the hospital to confirm things and I was going to have surgery with Dr. Myseros the next day at INOVA Fairfax! I really wasn’t ready for surgery the next day and I was crazy nervous but my dad told me that I wasn’t going to be more ready for brain surgery just with a few more days. I knew he was right and I knew that it was the right thing to do and I should just go and get it out of the way. Of course I didn’t know how long I was going to stay in the hospital after surgery because I had no prior experience! But, I was thinking that I would be in the hospital for a week, recover, and be back to school the next Friday. And, that is what I told my friends and my teachers! (Little did I know!)

I went to sleep that night, not being able to think about anything other than surgery the next morning. I woke up bright and early the next morning, took a shower, and came downstairs to find many people waiting to see me before I went to the hospital. Other than my parents and my two uncles, a couple of our close family friends were there to greet me. I went in my uncle’s car and rode with my parents. So many things were going on in my head that I just wanted to get the surgery over with. My stomach was also growling because I wasn’t allowed to eat or drink anything for 12 hours before my surgery. After we reached the hospital, my parents checked me in and we waited. For me, it felt like an endless wait but we were called by the receptionist in about 15 minutes. We right away went to the back where there were many nurses and doctors and I could see the doorway to my operating room. I got all of my vital signs checked (weight, blood pressure, temperature, etc.). I went into a room and changed into a gown and waited with my parents.

I could hear Dr. Myseros outside annoyed at someone who was not ready on time. That sound of his voice totally in command reassured me that I was in good hands. An anesthesiologist then visited me to go over the procedure. (It happened that he was a colleague of a close friend of ours and he was super friendly!) He asked me whether I wanted to fall asleep by breathing into a scented mask or to have an IV line go through me and give me a medicine. I knew that I was going to have many IV lines in me after surgery so I decided to just go with a mask. He then asked me what flavor I wanted the mask to be coated with. I listened to all of the flavors and thought hard. (This was my important decisionJ) I thought of my favorite drink, Shirley Temple, and wanted to go to sleep with that smell. I chose cherry for my flavor and the doctor gave me the mask and a cloth to wipe in it and add the flavor. Finally, the nurse who was going to wheel me into the operating room came and asked me if I wanted one of my parents in the room with me before I fell asleep. I asked if my dad could come and he had to wear a sterilized gown as he followed me into the room. This was the first time I saw a real operating room. In the middle was a tiny bed for me and above that were all those lights and instruments. And there were at least six or seven people in the room getting ready to work on me. But very quickly they put me on the table and had me breathing into the mask. As I was waiting to fall asleep with my dad beside me, a nurse asked me about my favorite sport, tennis. She asked, “What part of the body do you use the most to have a good serve?” I answered with, “Your legs.” She then asked, “Why do you need to use your legs?” I replied, “The power would come from your legs because…” And that is all I remember.

About eight hours later, I got wheeled to a recovery room where my parents met me before being moved into the pediatric intensive care unit. I don’t really remember any of that. After a couple of days, I got moved to the Oncology section where I remember many of our family and friends coming to visit and drop of gifts and flowers and get well soon cards. Knowing everybody was behind me made me feel as good as I could in bed. But then for the next few days I was really messed up with lots of headaches and complications that I don’t really remember (including an emergency late night procedure that Dr. Myseros came in to do that I have no recollection of) which is not a bad thing! But my parents told me that Dr. Myseros and the staff there were just amazing and helped me through all of that. The final thing I remember was when Dr. Myseros came to remove a temporary shunt in my head – and I didn’t have any anesthesia for that! And he let me help him through that minor procedure by asking me to put my finger on the spot where he had drilled a hole before he stitched it up!

After 12 days in the hospital, I got discharged and went home. I was sent with a walker as I couldn’t walk well independently but I quickly transitioned out of it at home. My aunt and cousins from India were there to visit and took care of me so well and were the best!

As I still had a full head of hair then, I fast forward (as I now don’t have much hair) to a recent visit with my surgeon. Dr. Myseros looked at my bald head and said, “Don’t worry, God made some heads perfect, he put hair on the rest!” Hmm…I will go with that for now!

With Dr. Myseros