Today was a great day.
Except it started off very very weird.
Before any of us arrived at the hospital, my mom got an unexpected visitor. After agreeing to meet with a chaplain with her overnight nurse Hilda at about 7:30am, Hilda and Raza (daytime nurse) went outside to chat about the changing of shifts. A man walked into my mom's room where another patient was in their bed as well. He walked up to Norma's bed and started asking her questions. Assuming he was the chaplain, she greeted him and spoke with him.
Man: Why are you here?
Norma: I had surgery on my brain.
Man: Why did you have surgery?
Norma: I had a brain tumor removed.
Man: Why did you have a brain tumor?
This is when she knew something was wrong. She kept eye contact with him as he stared deep into her eyes, while she grabbed her nurse call button and pressed it. Hilda and Raza walked right up and said "Oh you have a visitor." That's when Norma told them she didn't know who he was, and the quickly pulled him aside and out of the room, then called security. Shortly after, security informed Norma that he had gone in a few rooms that he didn't belong in and was escorted outside just before being arrested.
Holy crap right! Raza was amazing all day and credited Norma to saving their lives. Silver lining... she was treated like a princess by all the staff after this incident, and now I am writing this to you in our PRIVATE bedroom with Maya totally welcomed!
The rest of the day was much less like an episode of Grey's Anatomy.
Norma got her post-surgery MRI and it showed literally no signs of any tumor present! Dr. McDermott is confident that he got all of it, and IF there is anything left, it is too small to even treat with radiation. She will need annual MRI's from now on just to keep an eye on it.
What's next?
She is healthy enough to be released as early as tomorrow! Because of scheduling issues we are going to stay an extra night to keep her safe and she will be discharged Saturday.
Tomorrow Dr. McDermott will check in one last time and we will just take it easy in our luxurious room. Saturday we will all go to our hotel in Downtown San Fran and she will already be able to wash her hair, no bandages or anything! Anyone have any suggested hairstyles for a reverse mohawk?
Good news is Maya gets to sleep with her mama again tonight, while she's not keeping guard and barking at the new nurses coming in.
