On September 25th Emily had her brain surgery!

She went in early in the morning to get prepped and was in surgery for 3-4 hours. The plan was to remove the most infected and most swollen temporal part of her brain. They said there should be little to no side effects. They did a biopsy of the tissue/tumor/brain that they removed. They said that surgery was successful and went well. Emily spent the next week in the hospital. Mostly in the Cardiac Unit to monitor her hearts response to surgery. The dr.s and therapists have all had to juggle who and what attention to give.

This is an xray of her heart with Pacemaker. And the picture of her head stapled back together after surgery!

The night before surgery we went to wish her well:

The Morning of surgery I went to the EARLY session at the temple:

We got to babysit Becker and Bennett for part of the day on Tuesday and Wednesday. They enjoyed Cali’s trip to the orthodontist and all of our kids enjoyed holding and feeding Becker:

Ben spent one of his lunches at the Hospital with Emily and Michelle:

Now Emily is back home with her Mom and Dad. We are all working to help her and the family while Schyleur is away getting some help.

The Biopsy Results via Michelle and Dad (October 8th):

Emily has a Grade 3 Anaplastic Astrocytoma. The dr actually said this was a good one because it should respond well to treatment. After treated it most likely wil grow back but he can’t guess on when. They just have to watch it.

Treatment: First 6 weeks- Chemo pill every day with radiation M-F each week, then radiation is done. Round figures: rest a month, then chemo pills the first week of each month for the next 6 months.

Side affects… with radiation she will be fatigued, loss of hair where they do the radiation, possible problems with memory, thinking and focusing for four to six months, her hearing may be affected she may hear ringing or her hearing may change on that side, her smell may be affected which then affects her taste and her appetite.
Chemo side affects are fatigue, nausea, constipation.

Lots of Prayers being said for Emily and the rest of the family!