d plus 1

Sorry I didn't update sooner. Courtney had a really difficult night last night, but it wasn't because of her head. Her eye was irritated somehow and has been excruciating to her. We spent the night putting in eye drops and holding cold compress on it. It's a little better now, but still the worst part of recovery so far. She has total numbness in her right ring finger and pinky. We thought at first it was a pinched ulnar nerve from the way she was positioned, but it still hasn't gone away. She'll do another MRI to see if there's any swelling in her neck and pinching a nerve there. She had an MRI at about 5:00am this morning to see how things are looking post-op. It's pretty amazing how much tissue was removed. There's a pretty sizable void there, and we're hopeful not too much healthy tissue was removed.

Only a tiny bit of tumor was left, and that's because it was too close to her optic areas to be able to safely remove it. The doctor was confident enough that we're dealing with a low grade tumor that he decided that the risks of damaging her vision were greater than the risks of leaving that last little bit. We'll have to wait until the pathology report to know what we're gonna do about that last bit (radiation or chemo.)

Courtney's spirits are up (when she's not to high on the drugs she's taking.) This morning she asked me to count the staples in her head and, drum roll please, there's 42. I'll post some pictures later, but right now she's not quite up for a photo shoot.

The kids are receiving wonderful care from Grandma and Grandpa Pixon and from my sister-in-law, Tracy, and my parents. They, in turn, seem to be receiving care from so many more of you! It's great to know that the our lives are being managed by such helpful and loving hands so that we can focus entirely on helping Courtney get better. Thanks again to everyone for the continued thoughts and prayers and for making it possible for me to be here by her side.