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Moving moving moving

Earlier than expected, we found out night that Pré Borel will be ours from the 1st of December (note the address to the left!). So we'll have almost two weeks to get settled before the operation - great news. 'Scuse me, we're going out to celebrate...

A white Christmas

The house we've bought is actually very low down, so we're unlikely to see much snow at the house itself. A bit of a shame, but you can't grow kiwis in the snow, they say.... Alas, I'm going to be getting a white Christmas because I double checked with the surgeon over my stay in hospital, and it seems like I will spend

7 days in Grenoble (the hospital where the surgery will happen)
14 days in Briancon (at the rehabilitation hospital)

Briancon is in the high Alps, about 3 hours south of Grenoble. It is high itself, well above 1000m (the top of a Scottish 'mountain'!) and so it is most likely there will be lots of snow. I'm doing my best to be enthusiastic about the chance to be in such stunning surroundings, but frankly it's a bit of a PITA. It wouldn't be so bad if I had to stay in Grenoble, but now we have to find somewhere for Kirstin to stay close to Briancon for the two weeks over Christmas and New Years. I'm not really likely to be very good entertainment value, the car only drives forwards not reverse, her health is not so great at the moment - all a bit of a pickle.

Grump grump. I'm off to bed - tomorrow is Saturday so I'll have a chance to think about we can do.

Now the waiting...

I had my last appointment before the surgery with the anaesthetist on Thursday. It was basically a quick review of any possible allergies and other issues that he'd want to be aware of before putting me under. The schedule on the 13th looks like I'll go into theatre (do many people still watch? And do I get applause at the end, or is that reserved for the chap with the knife?) at about 8:30 in the morning. They wire me for sound, and by the time they get to actually administering the drugs I'm sure they'll have had enough of my questions! About 90 minutes after arrival (10am) the surgical teams will arrive.

The meeting was fine - another excellent doctor - and he doesn't envisage any complications. They sometimes wake the patient up right after the surgery, and certainly within a couple of hours, so by about 8pm I should be awake again. The operation, as you've divined, is usually about 8 hours or so.

Now I just have to get a blood test to give them the essential details on my blood type in case a transfusion is necessary, and wait for December 13th to arrive. I'll be going into hospital the night before, but the 13th is The Day.

Good news!

Well, relatively speaking at least - funny how one adapts to change. I saw the neurosurgeon today, and had a great meeting. I got home a bit late to pick Kirstin up, then discovered the car had a flat, so had to run (with the wheelchair) to the tram. We arrived at the hospital a few minutes late, but covered in sweat. At least, I was.

Two and a half hours later, our turn to see the doctor arrived. It became quickly apparent that he possessed all the things you'd like to have in a surgeon but didn't really expect - humility, optimism coupled with reality checks, and a sense of humour. Oh, and no awareness of either how late he was running, nor how long he was taking to make sure you were happy.

And so we came out happy. I've decided to have the operation in Grenoble, and the date that has been provisionally set for me is December 13th (Tuesday). I'll go into hospital the day before and after the operation will be in Grenoble for a few days, then south to Briancon (in the high Alps) for the intensive rehabilitation program.

I'd been resigning myself to the trans-labyrinthine approach, which requires the destruction of the hearing apparatus and the balance system (on the right side) since I'd heard a number of confirmations of the necessity of that for a tumour of this size (28mm, almost into the classical grade 5 category) but the neurosurgeon said that he felt my hearing was sufficiently good still that it would be worth attempting a retro-sigmoid approach that may save about 30%. Although ENT surgeons don't think this is worth it, because this does not leave sufficient hearing for speech discrimination, it does leave something to help you locate sounds (stereophony) and also hear 'alert' noises - a car coming towards you, someone shouting, etc. He will discuss this with the ENT team, and decide on what is best together.

Interestingly, the same incision in the skin is used for both: it is the entry through the bone with changes. So he envisages trying the retro-sigmoid first, but if it becomes apparent that it will not work, then simply drilling a new hole to do the trans-lab.

He expects I'll be home for Christmas!

Of course, the whole problem of where will home be is still weighing on me slightly. Life insurance to satisfy the mortgage lenders is still proving to be elusive, and I'm starting to run out of options. We'll see how things go in the next few days, when I should be receiving some calls to discuss.

So, all in all, I feel much better tonight than I have for a few days (where my sister and Kirstin, particularly, have had to deal with a rather surly companion). I got a good vibe from the surgeon (and how better would you assess a medical expert when you are not one?), I got a date, and a better than expected prospective outcome after surgery.

Thanks for all your letters and emails - they've been really encouraging.