We are asking for your prayers for our brother-in-law Scott as he faces surgery on September 1 for a brain tumor. Please pray for him and his family as they walk down this road together and for wisdom for the surgeons.
Below written by Scott's wonderful wife Sara (Brent's sister):
For the past six months, my wonderful spouse began dealing with anxiety/panic attacks, but these "attacks" weren't looking quite right. We scheduled an appointment and described symptoms, and thankfully were referred to a neurologist with concerns of seizures. An EEG later, it was confirmed that Scott was in fact experiencing seizures daily, and an MRI quickly showed us the reason for both the mood change and the seizures- a giant baseball sized tumor existing on Scott's right frontal lobe, spreading into his temporal lobe.
We have additional tests to clearly identify where Scott's speech center is (a concern because he's left handed and therefore his speech center is likely located on his right brain) and then we will schedule neurosurgery to remove as much as the tumor as safely possible (complications to due blood vessels throughout the tumor, speech center location, and temporal lobe impediment). We are expecting to be inpatient for a week following the surgery, then following up with chemotherapy/radiation treatment pending type of tumor (most likely glioma type 2 or 3).
Update: We officially have a surgery date, which is Thursday, September 1st at Stanford! We feel good about getting this on the books so we can start the long road to recovery. We continue to feel like we are in amazing hands after meeting the two neurosurgeons who will be preforming this.
The additional testing (functional MRI or fMRI) showed us some very good news, that's Scott's speech center is indeed located on the left side of the brain. So that is one less thing for us to worry about.
However, due to the tumor's location on the temporal lobe, the artery that the tumor has surrounded, and proximity to optical and motor function, they will do an awake craniotomy to remove as much of Scott's tumor that is safely possible. They are also choosing awake to protect the insular cortex (which houses a lot of vessels/feeders for the brain).
The neurosurgeon thinks they will be able to remove about 80% of the tumor, which would be considered a successful intervention. They reviewed the risks and benefits and believe that the benefits far outweigh the risks, and the docs like Scott's chances of making a full recovery.
We will know a few days into our inpatient stay exactly what type of tumor we are dealing with (lots of different possibilities) and that will dictate our plan of approach for follow up care (most likely radiation and chemotherapy) to treat the remaining 20% of the tumor. We will meet with the neuro oncologist once we have a diagnosis and have a plan in place by Scott's discharge home.
