Today Kirsten underwent her third operation in the fight against her pituitary tumor.

Supra-Orbital Craniotomy
Kirsten Uhler, Cogitations, August 23, 2009

Instead of going in through her nose like the previous two times they went straight through her forehead skull. Her neurosurgeon, Dr. Florman, doesn’t shave. Instead, he parts the hair, cuts between the hairs, folds the face down, drills a hole in the skull, removes as much tumor mass as possible, patches the skull hole with a metal plate and screws, and sews the skin back in place. I know. I don’t like it more than you.

Kirsten is a tough girl. She rarely mentioned her surgery and said she wasn’t much nervous.

They called to tell her they were ahead of schedule and were moving her surgery up to 14:30 from 15:30. That cut down our picnic time, but we didn’t mind. We ate in the grass in the shade of a tree just outside the hospital on Portland’s Western Promenade. It was a fantastic morning.

Surgery prep was fairly routine. She got an IV and signed her life away (literally). Dr. Florman came in to review the procedure, and then the anesthesiologists did the same. Then they wheeled her away.

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brain surgery · craniotomy · kirsten · pituitary · surgery · tumor

Kirsten found out this morning that her prolactinoma, which was mostly removed during a transsphenoidal surgery in 2006, is back and larger than ever. She’ll see a neurosurgeon in a couple weeks to discuss another operation.

Kirsten’s Prolactinoma
Brent Danley, The Rhetoric, August 3, 2006

kirsten · pituitary · prolactinoma · surgery · tumor · tumour

We woke up this morning shortly after three o’clock. At a quarter after five we left for Via Christi. Kirsten had completed her pre-op testing and paperwork days before so we were ushered into the admissions waiting room. After a short time we were led to the third floor where we parted ways; Kirsten went to surgery and I found a table where I knew I would be spending the better part of the morning.

The waiting room is nice. There are many families watching t.v., reading, and talking quietly. Doctors frequently come in and out to let family know how the surgeries went. Kirsten’s surgery should have started eighty minutes ago. I’ve been writing Excel VBA code for Skye’s arithmetic worksheets, reading The Economist and John Grisham’s “The Summons”, and eagerly watching the clock while I wait for Dr. Hsu. He probably won’t be done for another hour or so.

kirsten · pituitary · prolactinoma · surgery · tumor · tumour

About a year and a half ago doctors discovered a prolactinoma in Kirsten. At the time it was small so her neurosurgeon sent her to an endocrinologist for drug therapy. She’s been taking a thyroid medication, daily steriod injection (Norditropin®), and Dostinex® (to reduce the size of the tumor). A couple weeks ago her regular MRI revealed that the tumor has grown significantly.

She’s having surgery Tuesday to remove the tumor. Patsy and Dad will watch the girls at their house in Florida until Kirsten is well enough for us to go down and bring them back. Patsy arrives Saturday to accompany the girls on their flights. We are humbled and grateful for their sacrifice and willingness to do whatever they can to ease our burden.

We have received a tremendous outpouring of support from family, friends, coworkers, and our beloved Flickr friends. Thank you all.

Please leave a comment if you have any questions (it’ll give me something to write about.) I’ll try to post frequently over the next week so everyone who cares will be up to speed.

kirsten · pituitary · prolactinoma · surgery · tumor · tumour