Actual tumor, imovers, Joey Fatone?!

Guess how many ibuprofen I had today? Zero!! After I read about what ibuprofen, acetametaphine, & naproxen sodium do to your body - holy cow! I'm ready to be in pain instead of taking them. And today's pain was do-able.

Here are some close up (click on them to enlarge) of the tumor. The red arrow is pointed at the regular part of the tumor the blue arrow is pointing to the "rubbery" part of the tumor. I don't know if that is normal or not. It sounded like it wasn't normal. He got rid of part of it but not much of the rubbery part. Again if we weren't worried about the next 30 to 50 YEARS it would be no problem the way it is.

On a totally different note, there's this kids show on the Disney Channel that I really like. It's called Imagination Movers. I've only watched it like 5 times but they are musical and creative about solving people's problems and just fun. Yeah I'm 33 and totally get a kick out of them. (Where's a kid to stay with me and give me an excuse?)

Okay so this morning I recorded it so I could watch it after Richard left (because needless to say he considers it "death by slow insanity"). And who could believe that the guest was Joey Fatone from N*SYNC! He was a baseball player for the "Sweaty Socks". I was so delighted I had to tell someone. And who did I pick? My brother - Jonathan. He was a NSYNC fan. He totally looked like he belonged on NSYNC at the time. His fav was Justin Timberlake but Joey's still one of the boy band members. The best part of the whole show was when they were singing and did a part of the Bye, Bye, Bye dance! It rocked!

This is Joey as a "Sweaty Sock".

Now this wasn't the first time I texted him about Joey. Just a couple weeks ago I saw the Hannah Montana with Joey. (Funny, he was a retired baseball player in that one.) At the end of the show, he and Hannah did some dancing with awesome golden outfits. That show had some funny references to Justin Timberlake and boy bands.

In this picture he just turned her in his arms. His character was so serious about performing - hence the serious look on his face.

I'm glad that I have my bro to share my NSYNC greatness with. Hooray for Joey Fatone.

Dr. Mickey

We saw Dr. Mickey this morning. And I'm going back to work on Monday!

Looking at both MRIs, he said there is still a considerable amount left of the tumor. (In the post before that big potato looking thing was the liquid sack around the actual tumor.) He also said if it stayed like that for the rest of my life he wouldn't have a problem with it. His big concern is a liquid sack starting back up again. He's considering radiation but apparently that doesn't necessarily prevent that. (so why do it?) So I'm going to see an radiation onconlogist (maybe, I can't really remember) to confirm his thoughts. Either way, he doesn't want us to do anything for 2 months. And that means starting work (half days at first) again NEXT WEEK!

I've totally got butterflies in my stomach. I haven't been to work in 5 months. Do I remember anything? They are actually putting me in a different position which is welcome. At least it will be new stuff so they'll have to train me anyway.

The headaches are probably from the actual surgery site and should be gone within the next 4 weeks. And I was given a limit on how much ibuprofen I'm allowed to take. Basically he said I'm gonna have to deal with the pain a little more. He and Richard don't want my kidneys to shut down. Go figure.

Oh I forgot to mention that yesterday when I went for the MRI the nurse asked when my procedure was done. I told her 4/19. She incredulously asked "THIS YEAR?" Apparently people don't look this good four and a half weeks after surgery. Hallejuah Dr. Mickey!!

Comparisons

Today was MRI day. I asked and it doesn't matter if your eyes are open or closed. Oh I also found out that the contrast dye they give you for MRIs make you taste or smell something metallic. The contrast dye for CT scans makes you feel like you have to pee. (I've had both.)

So here are some of the films. The first one shows me morphing from an alien (in the first few images) to a human (that looks just like me - go figure) then back to an alien. I think it's super cool looking.



The next one is from 4/1/10. On the 2nd line you can see the tumor and liquid sack (it's that really big potato lookin thing).



This one is from today. Check out the 2nd line. It was a slightly different angle (I think) but there's no potato shaped thing. I can see something. I don't know what that means. I don't know what Dr. Mickey will say but dang what a difference.



More about that tomorrow. While I'm making comparisons, I kinda got drawn into American Idol 9th Season. It's only the 2nd time that I've watched it. We are down to the final 2 - a boy named Lee and a girl named Crystal. Lee reminds me SOOO much of my brother Brad. Especially when he sings. He does this thing with his mouth where he has this half smile when he sings the high parts or the loud parts. I can't really explain it so I found some photos.





(I'm pretty sure this is staged but I couldn't find anything else.)

He kinda looks like Brad and his personality reminds me of Brad. He started out pretty shy/nervous to perform & he was so surprised by his homecoming. It seemed like a million people were there to support him.

I also think Brad is extremely talented. I would have put one of his songs on my blog but I couldn't figure out how to steal one from myspace. He only had 3 songs recorded on video and I couldn't figure out how to steal one of those from myspace, facebook or youtube. I've no patience to figure it out. He writes his own music and there's this one called "Carry On" that I love!! He's pretty talented at lyric-writing. Maybe he should audition for the next American Idol. I'd watch one that he was on for sure!

What a cool kid!

Walking & MRI

I couldn't figure out why I was gaining so much weight. I'm eating normally, not like last time where everyday I had a little "extra" something. All of a sudden I remembered that I don't do anything physical. Gee, could that possibly be it? You mean from the couch to the kitchen to the bedroom isn't doing anything?!

Yesterday I felt good enough to exercise. My friend and I used to go walking 2 miles at the rec center. I asked her to meet me there. 25 laps equals 2 miles. I thought I'd have to stop at 10 laps, but I made it around all 25! I'm so proud.

My MRI is on Thursday then the appt with the surgeon is on Friday. (It's one of those things where you get on the bench and they put you in the tube. I'm not claustrophobic at all.) MRI's usually take 45 minutes. I've never asked if you can keep your eyes open or not. I don't. It's easier to be comfortable and not move with your eyes closed. How funny that I can say usually. I've even had a couple of these when I was out of it. Usually they put earplugs in your ears, but at this place they ask you for your favorite radio station and give you headphones. I wonder if they plug your ears when you are already under.

MRI's are different than CT scans, I can't really say why except CT scans are way shorter and MRI's have really neat ways you can use them during surgery. I have a bunch of films of both out in the car. (I should probably bring those in.) I need to request a disk with the scans from the current doctor. He didn't like to work from the physical films, he preferred the computer images. The neat thing is that whatever computer you put them on, the disk works. You don't have to have a special program. I really hope I remember to request that. I'll probably be too nervous. I'd ask Richard to remind me but he'll be even more nervous.