Well, I haven’t written for a bit because I have had a lot going on here. It’s been, in a word, a firestorm over the past 7 days or so so this will not be a cheery post.
As you know I have been dealing with a primary brain tumor diagnosis and have been in a “watch and wait” strategy as recommended by the Neuroscience Institute and my Neurosurgeon here in Sacramento. Once I received the diagnosis, however, it was time to move into action and assemble an A team for additional opinions. So, I first enlisted the help of the University of California San Francisco Brain Tumor Center and the Chairman of the Neurosurgery Department. Additionally, I was able to enlist the services of the Chair of the Harvard Medical School of Neurosurgery – by the grace of God the best that medical science has to offer in my view.
UPDATED: UCSF came back with the first of two additional opinions. They were on the opposite side of the fence of the institute here. They recommend surgery asap and say that this is an evolving tumor and that I should not sit on this. The Chair of the Harvard Medical School Department of Neurosurgery has come back with his opinion and he concurs with the UCSF opinion – surgery. It’s now time to sort all of this and make some decisions. The timing of all of this is critical as noted below because of my wife and I expecting our second son in early August.
It’s risky – it’s located in the supplementary motor cortex, an area of the brain responsible for complex motor skills included two-handed movement. As a musician, I’m obviously frightened for a multitude of reasons. Meanwhile, the team here is having a conference this week consisting of neurosurgeons, neuroradiologists, neuropathologists and other specialists to review my case again in light of the dissenting view from UCSF. I will go in late this week for a clinic to discuss strategies, risks and other details associated with the entire situation.
More to come.
Secondly, my wife Rachael and I are expecting our second child – a boy. She is 31 weeks pregnant. The news from UCSF came on Thursday night. Less than 24 hours later, on Friday morning, she had a major complication with the pregnancy and I had to rush her to Labor and Delivery. It was really touch and go for a bit. Once we arrived they hooked up the telemetry and our baby was thankfully doing just fine – heart rate and everything was great. After a period of time, the situation was stabilized but they needed to keep her overnight for observation. She is now on modified bedrest which is really bedrest – 8 hours a day she needs to be off of her feet and when she can be on her feet, she needs to be around the house and can’t be doing anything major. So, we have a full time nanny in place because we have our 4-year old, Aidan, at home and are also receiving SO much support from our small group through church. It’s amazing – our small group leader Sarah immediately started circulating meal signups and we’ve had dinners delivered every other night since this started and the support that has been sent our way has been overwhelming. Of course our families have also been a tremendous source of support and God is in the middle of all of this. Rachael is doing great but with her due at the beginning of August and a potential surgery looming for me in the near future, these two events are now in lockstep with one another.
It’s a very difficult time to say the least.
All in all, things are going ok in spite of the news. The fact is, with my health situation, you have to be your own advocate. Is it hard – absolutely. It’s not easy facing something like this at all. Psychologically, spiritually, emotionally – it’s draining on all fronts. However, you have to try to be strong and remain positive, hopeful and upbeat as best you can. If you read the Album Review tab I talk about the background of River of Faith and it really sums it all up quite well from my perspective. And on the CD itself, it sums it up in one verse from the bible:
Hebrews 11:1 – Faith is the confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen. It is the evidence of things we cannot yet see
CDs will be on CDbaby.com in the next week in spite of all of this. I only have a limited number to start but I will be having a friend take over the account, replenishment of stock, etc. I will try to publish a new web page on the site with a buy button as well as place a post here when it’s ready but you can also just do a search on CDbaby and find it.
Cheers,
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Rachael and I know that God is in the middle of this, He will see us through and we have complete faith. He already knows the outcome. He has guided us through the process. I was just formally diagnosed in May after months of scans and fact finding. From that point, the speed at which we were able to obtain the opinions from Harvard and UCSF can only be attributed to God. This is the highest eschelon of the medical world and we have this information in a matter of several weeks.
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