My Appointment With Dr Peter Black

I just got back from spending the day in Boston at the Dana-Farber/Brigham & Woman's hospital and my appt with Dr Peter Black. What a great man he is! He initially came across as very soft spoken and then as we talked and I started making jokes (my way of breaking stress) he started loosening up and was joking with me. He had a couple of interns with him and they were all very nice too. They asked about my elbow since I had listed it under the "existing conditions" portion of the new patient form, and after I mentioned what was going on several other interns came by to examine it...I think they had more fun trying to diagnose my elbow problem then anything else they were doing LOL. All of the interns that checked my elbow all came up with the same thing...compression on the ulna nerve, similar to carpal tunnel but in the elbow instead of the wrist. This is the same thing I had come up with before I even went to the first orthopedic doctor. They thought the MRI was a good idea to rule out any other problems and they are going to send a report of their findings to my new orthopedist.

Now about the tumor; Dr Black thinks it has a 90% probablility to be a meningioma and because of it's location he wants to remove it asap. He basically came in sat down said he had gone over my MRI & CT scans, reports from other Drs, etc, that it is a meningioma and "I think we need to take this out soon, in about 2 weeks". He is leaving tomorrow for a two week cruise/vacation and will do the surgery as soon as he returns. I find out the exact date and time on Monday. I will be in the hospital for approx 4 days after the surgery, the first day or two in ICU. They will cut from my hairline over the left part of my forehead and down to the outside corner of my left eye. Then they will cut (using a surgical saw) and remove the bones behind the tumor (superior lateral area of the orbit). Instead of trying to remove the tumor from the bone and then replace the bone Dr Black will reconstruct the missing orbital bones with titanium. Since they will be cutting the lateral and superior rectus muscles (the muscles that control moving your eye and your eylid) I will have double vision for 4 to 6 weeks, necessitating the use of an eye patch, and also the left lid will be closed for the same amount of time. As the cut muscles and nerves heal the lid will start to move and blink and the double vision will go away. Dr Black said I will have the biggest black eye that I have ever imagined, but mostly any negative results from surgery will be cosmetic and should all rectify itself as the surgery site heals.

So there you have it. I am relieved to know what this type of tumor is, even though it would have been a bit easier if it was one of the other types. Dr Black is one of the formost authorities on meningiomas AND is one of the very top Neurosurgeons in the world I couldn't be in better hands and even if the thought of brain surgery and removing (permanently) some of the bones in my head is kinda scary I really feel that I can't be in better hands. I have no doubts that this will all work out fine and someone must have been smiling on me to have found this tumor before it became too invasive. Beside's, my Mom fractured her skull in 1958, they removed a large portion of her skull and she has a plate covering the back of her head. She survived all that trama back in the late 50s! I'm so fortunate, 50 yrs later, to be able to have the very best of care in a totally modern state of the art facility.

I'll post as soon as I get a surgery date, probably Monday afternoon.