Where we began...

Friday Night

Dayton and I arrived home (Yakima) about 7pm, and just as we had arrived Mom developed a headache- an 8 out 10 pain scale. She described it as a throbbing pain that spread across her forehead. After a phone call into the doctor, we doubled her dosage of steroids and she was told to rest. She went to bed about 9pm.

Approximately Midnight Dad was woken up by Mom who was extreme pain. She had a seizure and became unconscious/unresponsive. We called 911 and within about 45 minutes the ambulance arrived and was able to whisk her to the hospital. Her oxygen levels appeared to be fine.

1:00am- Once we arrived to Yakima Regional ER, she was intubated (a tube connected to a breathing machine). She taken directly to CT scan where we had some very unfortunate news. Her tumor had bled severely. Not only had the tumor bled around itself, but was also spreading across her the outside of her brain and causing severe pressure on her brain. The pressure had shifted her brain to the right (off-center). This pressure was causing some very concerning symptoms: she was "posturing" meaning her arms and legs were flexing and moving abnormally while unconscious indicating severe brain injury. Her pupils were also fixed and dilated (wide), which is also a clear indication that the brain was under severe stress.

I won't be rosy: the situation was very grave, and the doctor did not have a lot of hope.

Saturday

1:45am- Dr. Singel arrived and performed an emergency decompressive craniectomy. He drilled a small hole into her skull to immediately relieve some of the pressure. At this time the right pupil became reactive to light. A positive sign.

2:30am- Dad, Dayton, Paul, and I were able to see Mom again in the ER before they took her to emergency surgery.

3:30am- Mom was taken to surgery. Dr. Singel's first goal was to remove the blood from the brain and release the tremendous pressure on her brain. Expected wait time: 5+hours. This would stabilize her so he could attempt the the tumor removal.

6:30am- Dad sees Dr. Singel taking a coffee break. He was able to stabilize her and remove the blood on her brain, and the bleeding had stopped. The pressure is gone. He was going to back in to begin the tumor removal, could take up to 10+more hours. He had hoped, of course, that he would have all of those blood vessels sealed up for the planned surgery on Tuesday. But due to the emergency, he was going to have to go in very carefully and try his best to not let her bleed to death.

10:30am- Nurse reports that Dr. Singel has finished the Left side (where most of the tumor was) and moved onto the right. Bleeding was controlled, and she was stable.

11:30am- Nurse reports that Dr. Singel was beginning to close her back up. He had removed most of her forehead bone (all the way back to the top of the skull). He very carefully realigned the skull bones together and did a "very good cosmetic surgery" so she will have minimal scarring.

1pm- Mom was taken directly to CT scan post-op, and then moved to the ICU. The CT scan was clear. All the tumor is gone, and Singel says: 1. Excessive pressure caused brain to shift, post-op it had moved back to its rightful spot. 2. We will begin the "waiting game" to see if/when she will wake up. 3. At least 24h of induced sedation on a ventilator to let her brain heal and sleep before attempting to see if we get a response.

After she was wheeled into ICU we were able to visit her a few times. Her vital signs, heart rate, blood pressure, etc were stable. We were to remain very quiet, and refrain from touching her too much to minimize any stimulation.