MY LUCKY LOTTO DAY…
O.K., I’m really thinking that this is my lucky day, I mean it’s Wednesday, Lotto tonight, right?? Sometime when you just have a feeling, you have to play, gamble, whatever; just play out the feeling. I had a great day today. A full day at UCLA; lunch, and an appointment with two Dr.’s; one headed up my radiation, Dr. Selch; the other drilled through my skull, my surgeon Dr. Yang. As we all know, the cafeteria is great, so the lunch was great, of course. That was with the new Director of Development/Department of Neurosurgery, Leti McNeill Light. She was a real asset to the dept., as far as raising money for the funded project for the Meningioma/Neurogurgery dept. She’s new, and we corresponded on her first day last week, and she knew that I was coming in today for Dr.’s appointments, so it became a lunch appointment for us. You know why it was so great? I’m on the fundraising committee for the big fundraising ball for October, you know, the one which raised over $2,000,000 last year! The one where I’m here to “help”! As we ate, she got a lot of my story, and then asked me, how much I might be able to generate! If you haven’t realized, I didn’t put a lot thought into it, and started thinking, I really NEED to start thinking about it. Boy, do I need to think! I’ve done a lot of fundraiser events in the past, with Ron, with the silent auction. We’ve certainly never tried to reach $2,000,000; how about $20,000? I actually can’t wait to get involved a little more on what, and how, the members operate. So there I go letting everyone know of my intentions, that I intend to raise money, now!! I really enjoyed that whole process, lunch/talk thing.
The next appointment was with Dr. Selch, who I saw every week during radiation. He was very comfortable with where I was at, from physically, to how the brain seems to look right now, from the MRI taken last week. Still a little inflamed, but he seemed impressed enough to say I’ll still be on the anti-seizure meds for the next 1-2 years! All in all, though, he had very positive things to say.
With the Oncology dept., everyone who works there is so nice! Every time I go to UCLA, I always stop into their waiting room just to say “Hi”, because I spent so much time there, going through radiation. As I come in today, the girls thought I’d come to say hi, but of course, I’m there on “business” today, which threw them. Actually had a lot of fun with that.
Then on to see my guy, Dr. Yang. This guy is something else. Always a smile; seems so pleasant, but ALWAYS calls it straight out. He was very excited about the MRI from last week. No tumor, inflamation has gone down, but is still there, and will be for the next year; thus anti-seizure meds for the next year or so. He was asking so many questions about how I feel, only they were questions about how I DO feel right now, and I’m always wondering if these situations are positive, and he already knows the situations. He asked if I, (my brain, you guys!) was running a little slower right now, and I told him how I have to really concentrate on a lot more interaction that what I was used to, and he told me that that will improve, as the inflamation on the brain keeps decreasing. He says that radiation circumstances, can last up to 18 months, and that is what I need to plan on. I always thought that o.k., radiation is done, a few weeks and I’m good. How about 18 months!! Now I know. He says it with a smile, too! I sometimes have to concentrate on words if I’m really tired; that too, will decrease as things clear up, he just puts it all out there. The fact of the matter, is though, is we spent time on previous MRI’s, and then back to the most recent, from last week, and showing the differences. It’s really good to understand the situation, that way, you’re not just “believing the doctor”, no matter how much faith you have in them. It’s always good to know. That’s why I say, it’s my lucky day; I learned something!
I spend 5 hours at UCLA; I actually had a meeting on the 6th floor of the hospital, which is the floor that I was on for my second surgury for one meeting, a couple of Dr.’s enlighting me on my whole situation, and a great lunch to boot, who needs the lottery? I mean, what is the way you want to win the lottery? I’m pretty sure that I won that thing, a couple times over. I’m pretty happy; I think I’ll just hang out right here, knowing that I’ve already won….
