an update

first off, another article (kinda funny:
Yes, it really is brain surgery from Time magazine.

So, since I am unable to find any doctor to tell me the spot on my brain is going to magically disappear all by itself, I have decided to go ahead with Brain Surgery. Really, don't you think about it with the capital letters?

Anyway, I went to see Dr. Jeffery Bruce at the Department of Neurological Surgery at Columbia University. This is one of the top neurosurgery departments in the country, and Dr. Bruce is the co-director of the Brain Tumor Center, so I think I've hit the jackpot. Also, they accept my health insurance!

Dr. Bruce basically reiterated what my first opinion said, and although he said we could wait 6 months to do another MRI if we wanted, he also used the word "inevitable" in reference to the surgery. My rheumatologist also recommend I go ahead with the surgery, so I decided to do it. Did you know you can just pick up the phone and schedule Brain Surgery? Huh!

So, it's scheduled for August 2nd. Wow.

Am I freaking out about this? Well, yes and no. Most days are good days, and I'm staying strong. Then there are bad days when I cry. Not a big surprise! But I'm more crying over the giant wrench this whole thing has thrown into my life rather than the fear of the surgery itself. I'm sure that will kick in the night before the surgery.

We're working on setting up a schedule for people to come and help out, and slowly trying to explain things to my 4 year old son. He's still dwelling on my episode from last November where I keeled over and ended up in the hospital for 8 days with a 104 degree fever and pneumonia, so I want to prepare him the best I can for this. Right now we're going with "Mommy has a boo boo in her head and the doctors are going to fix it" but I've got some books requested from the library that I hope will help elaborate a bit.

So this is life with lupus and a brain tumor. The lupus is pretty calm right now, thank goodness, though fatigue is kicking my butt when I overdo it. We're trying to figure out how to manage my lupus meds + the surgery. Doesn't seem like a great idea to go into surgery while being pumped up on immunosuppressant drugs.

That's it for now.