Long Words that are Hard to Say...From the Lady in a Red Dress

Dr. Walpert was wearing the red dress, the high heels, and the leopard print shawl when she sat across from us to give us the news. Her make up was perfect. Her hair was perfect. She still looked as if she were about to walk into a Christmas Party.

She did not beat about any bushes. She told us that Ed's tumor was cancerous. She told us the cancer did originate in the brain; it did not metastasize from another part of his body. I thought that was good news, and expressed my relief. She said no, that is not good news. She said that his brain cancer is called Glioblastoma Multiforme. She told us it is a very agressive form of fatal brain cancer. If she had slapped me in the face I would not have been more stunned.

She told us he did do very well in surgery. She was able to get most all of the tumor, but did have to leave a 'rim' of it inside the brain, as it was too risky to go too deep. She said chemo and radiation may help get rid of 'rim' left behind. She also said that these types of tumors send out little 'seeds', or cells, to other parts of the brain, so it was very likely that those seeds would grow to be new tumors.

Dr. Walpert told us Ed would remain in recovery a few hours and then be moved to the Intensive Care Unit. The nurse and/or Dr. Walpert warned us that when we saw him in ICU, it was highly possible that his head would be wrapped like a mummy, that he would have tubes coming out every where, and his face may be severely swollen. We were warned there may be some memory loss and loss of speech. Of course, we imagined the worst.

Now Dr. Walpert told us since we would not be seeing Edward for a few hours, now would be the best time to go have lunch. And she left us. We cried. We worried. We were stuck to those chairs. Except me, I cannot sit. I went out into the hall and made some calls. I cried. A hospital pastor came by and prayed with us and offered us words of comfort. We cried some more. Me, B2, and T decided to go try eat lunch. Mama didn't want to go. She stayed in the family conference room. She said she needed to be by herself.

You can read more about this type of brain tumor by going to these links:
http://www.csmc.edu/5305.html
http://brain.mgh.harvard.edu/PatientGuide.htm