Post-Op Follow Ups

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Jordan has had both of his post-op follow up appointments now.

Head and Neck

He’s healing well and his surgery site is looking good. He does a nasal flush twice a day to help break up the scabbing and keep the tissue healthy and moist while his nose continues to heal.

His sense of smell is coming back slowly, and he’s eating well. Only gained about 5lbs back so far, but he’ll get there.

Neuro

Final tally is in, and it looks like about 2/3 of the tumor was removed. He started with 20-21cc of tumor, and he only has about 7cc remaining. His brain stem has been decompressed nicely, and it’s already expanding out into the space it should have been inhabiting this whole time.

Next Steps

First off, they are not currently looking at another surgery. We’re supposed to meet with Jordan’s oncologist to review the MRI and confirm that the remaining tumor is in a good place to radiate, and Jordan’s neurosurgeon is presenting Jordan as a case study at a skull base tumor conference next month. Both of these could result in a different recommendation for another surgery, but it’s looking unlikely they will.

He’s having some issues seeing through his glasses, but since that’s probably coming from something in his brain and not his eyes themselves, he’ll be seeing an neuro-ophthalmologist in a few weeks (after his brain has had some more time to heal and adjust) to get new glasses.

He still needs to take it pretty easy on the exercise, so he should be starting physical therapy in about two weeks. When his therapy begins, we’ll be using the same system that Katie was using for food drops to schedule rides. If you’re not already using the system and think you could be able to be a ride-giver, make sure that Katie or I have your email address and we’ll set you up.

Radiation will probably be starting in March, I’m guessing. He needs some time to gain strength before he starts and the proton center isn’t quite open yet. His tumor type isn’t very fast growing, so there’s no real urgency in starting. Like with therapy, we’ll be using Lotsa Helping Hands to schedule rides to and from the proton center in Sorrento Valley.

 

78 thoughts on “Post-Op Follow Ups”

  1. Thanks for the updates. Things seem to be going pretty well. Jordan, you and Katie will stay in our thoughts and prayers.
    Hope the meeting with the oncologist and the case study presentation bring more good results!
    Love
    Ivan and Tere

    Reply

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