Sparklinglady: cheater

wow, that looks juicy, now doesn't it!! that is my surgery. good stuff, right?
i went in on monday for my post op follow up appointment. it was much anticipated and we were there for a long time. met with the endocrinologist. i had a blood test. i'll find out the results of that tomorrow. it will tell me how my pituitary gland is doing after all of this. it will also serve as a benchmark going forward.
then met with the neurosurgeon. he's the one who showed us the video. he kept saying, let's watch it again! but he spent a lot of time talking us through what was going on in there and pointed out the piece of tumor that he wasn't able to get out. says its about the size of a grain of rice now. i even managed to get a smile and a bit of a laugh out of him! we had to schedule an appointment with the neuro-opthimologist (had that appointment today and my eyes are a-ok!!) so we were all standing there waiting for the patient coordinator to get off the phone. so i was telling him how that eye doctor wasn't too amused when i asked if the tumor might be full of baby spiders. the surgeon didn't say anything, so i went on to say how we had many conversations and laughs about how surprised he would be if he opened up the tumor and out crawled all the spiders! to that he laughed. i wonder if now every time he opens up a tumor if he is going to be wondering what might come out! but he cleared me for all activity. swimming, mountain biking, although he asked me to please wear a helmet!, running - anything i want to do. he did say he didn't like the bump on my head. he said he could fix it - would just need to peel my face off again, unscrew the plate, since i don't need the screws anymore, then they put a smooth plastic plug in the hole and then i would be good to go. he said my skin is just so thin (is that a good thing?) that it just makes it so bumpy. also finally got an explanation from the man himself as to why there is a dent - i guess the muscle atrophied? he said its a chewing muscle, but hey, apparently it doesn't affect my chewing. not one bit.
after we went to the radio surgery center. ahh, yikes! radiation is no laughing matter - holy crap! lots of short term side effects, and lots of long term side effects. 5 times a week, for 6.5 weeks. we go in on friday for another consult and then will schedule the planning session which will involve CT scan, MRI, i think they make a custom mask to hold my head down (thank goodness no pegs drilled into my skull!!!) and then who knows what else and then we'll get onto the radiating. and my hair will fall out in chunks. gah! need to ask more questions about that, but the doctor we met with suggested i get my hair cut short before it starts to fall out. so depending on how friday goes, i will schedule for next week. i've always kind of wanted a pixie cut!
we spent the weekend in leavenworth. it was so nice - and super hot!!! we went on a 10 mile hike! wow! i was happy that i felt ok and i was in good spirits! i did cheat on the paleo a bit. friday we made pulled pork sliders and i totally had to have my slider on a tiny little slider bun! the next day i had a beer!! and strawberry tart - two pieces even!! and corn chips! eric and i had date night monday since the kids were still at grandma and grandpa's and i had a lemon drop!! and chocolate cake with ice cream! so a little cheating but not too bad. could have been waay worse. on monday though we went to a 100% organic and 100% vegan place for lunch. it was very tricky because it had a whole section devoted to grilled cheese sandwiches. since i was so stressed about the appointments i decided i was going to break the paleo and have a grilled cheese sandwich but thank goodness at the very last second i realized, the would not be putting real cheese on it in a vegan resturant and instead i got some spinach crepes which would still be breaking the paleo but would NOT have mystery vegan cheese product. after we hunted and gathered some gelato. damn it was good!