Surgery Update!
My second surgery is scheduled for the 11th of August, which means I’ll be dead to the world from (rough estimate) August 10th - 15th. Recovery *should* be quicker, as there’s going to be less blood loss and in general the surgery is less dangerous. It’s still going to be weird as heck to be awake during it, but at the same time I’ll be numb to everything and I’ve been told I won’t remember much of it.
The first surgery successfully removed all of the high-grade tumor, but there are definitely still remnants of low-grade tumor left that need to be gotten rid of. They’ll be probing my brain in the places they wish to cut out first to see if it has any adverse effects before actually slicing, as it’s right up on my speech centers and low-grade tumor is visually identical to brain matter. Joy. There will also be at least one in-surgery MRI to check for residual tumor material (it shows up with a contrast they inject via IV).
I haveta go in on August 6th for more consultations with the anesthesiologist regarding the whole numb-yet-awake noise as well as pre-op blood tests etc to make sure there’s nothing that would say “uhh yeah a surgery right now isn’t a great idea.” It all should go swimmingly, or at least I hope it does.
We are still looking for donations. We only got halfway to the original goal that was set, but SSI came in to save the day. Things have been ridiculously tight however, mostly because the food assistance got messed up during it all and made the odd assumption that I was earning both my income from Sears as well as SSI and basically dropped help. It took literally 2 months for them to get the paperwork rechecked and fix the issue, so money that should’ve been going towards bills had to be reallocated to food in the meantime. I’m squeaking by, but with the trips between Springfield and Columbus gas money would be extremely useful, and we’re kinda running out of household essentials like laundry detergent etc. Basically things are way tighter than they need to be, and stress of not having essentials does not lead to quick recovery.
It’s looking to be around the holiday season before I can work again, and Sears can only push the leave back until the first week of October. Meaning that there’s a chance I no longer have a job to go back to (although my boss did say that he would expedite the rehiring process if I did end up out of the system; that still will mean a reset of seniority, a new probationary period, and the fact is he won’t be able to if there’s not an opening at the time).
Ergo, all of this means that any extra cash sent my way definitely helps. I’m kinda tied up, as not being allowed to work doesn’t allow me to pick up extra jobs or anything to help make ends meet. Sam/Mabu is still doing name-your-price commissions in exchange for donations, so now’s your chance to get a cool new art to hang on your wall or stick as your desktop background or whatever. You can contact her at toonukistudios@gmail.com and peruse some of her arts in this gallery or on her tumblr.
Thanks again for everything you’ve all done so far. Without the help to this point, I’d probably be sleeping on my parents’ couch right now. Let’s hope everything goes alright with the second surgery, and then the later chemo and radiation doesn’t knock the fire out of me!