What's Going to Happen to Tumzilla???

Tumzilla is only going to reside in Amy's head for two more days.  The Surgeon thinks he will be able to remove the majority of the tumor without causing any neurological or physical side effects.  He indicated that he may have to leave some of it depending on the brain functions that will be affected if he removes the entire tumor.  If this is the case, Tumzilla will become Tinytuma and Tinytuma will be abolished with chemo.  He will not know her exact prognosis until her skull is opened, he can actually see the tumor, and the pathology of the tumor is reported.  We did learn that the pathology report is done right in the operating room.  Rather than opening the skull for a biopsy, closing it back up and scheduling surgery for a later date (as is done with soft tissue biopsies) the biopsy and excision of the tumor takes place at one time.  This is will reduce the trauma of enduring two surgeries.

Now the good news...per the neurosurgeon, the location of the tumor (right frontal lobe), slow growth (it's been growing two to three years), and Amy's good overall general health plus young age, he called her prognosis "excellent."  His exact words "If you MUST have a brain tumor, this is a pretty nice brain tumor to have."

Amy will be checking into KU Medical Center at 6:30 am on Tuesday, March 1st for her surgery and a three to five day hospital stay.  Afterward, she will go home for what is expected to be a month long recovery period.  Amy's mother and sister will be taking her to the hospital that morning, and she will have plenty of us waiting nervously in the waiting room for the surgery to be completed.  After her surgery, she will be moved to neuro-intensive care unit until the doctors consider it safe to move her to a regular hospital room. (Amy plans to ask the doctor if she can keep Tumzilla in a formaldahyde jar so she can impress her biology and anatomy students with a really cool item.  She thinks her students will prefer that over worms and dead piglets, but Amy's always been a little strange.)

Once Amy is released to go home, her mom, Lorena will be staying with her during her initial days of recovery.  My brother, Danny has been working at her house getting it ready to be a "recovery home."
He's finishing the remodeling of her bathroom which includes installing a new shower, putting up blinds, installing a XXXL dog door for her horse...I mean dog, Ollie (a gorgeous mantle great dane).

Amy is in very good spirits right now...she finally knows that she's not going crazy, imagining her symptoms (severe headaches, partial blindness, dizzyness, electrical zaps in her head, and intolerable pain and pressure in her head and back.  She has also experienced numerous episodes of blacking out, extreme fatigue, confusion and memory loss).  Since she finally has a diagnosis, her doctors ordered her some prescription pain medication to tide her over until surgery which has also helped her feel better.

Lastly on today's post, we wanted everyone to have her contact information and address:

Amy J. Carlson
1038 Lawrence Ave
Lawrence, KS  66049
Phone:  785-979-8242
E-mail:  acarlson@stteresasacademy.org

Amy also has a facebook account for any blog followers who have not befriended her yet.

Again...most of you who know Amy well understand that putting herself out there, baring her soul, discussing her illness etc. is very uncharacteristic of her.  But we (her friends) have already seen her spirits lifted by the outpouring of love and support she has received since the news of her predicament has spread.  It means a lot that you care and are concerned about her, and it warms my soul to see her smile when she gets a facebook post, a text or an e-mail from her friends and co-workers.