Brain Surgery Survivor

I made it!
Even have fully functional hands.
I feel about like you'd expect when somebody cuts a hole in one's head... :-)
Thanks so much for the prayers of any flavor and donations.
Followup appointments next week are still in pencil due to doctor schedule conflicts, but at lest one of them should tell me something some time next week, regarding malignant/benign and grade/scale or whatever.
Had a screamer on the same floor last night, so didn't sleep much...
Very tired, so I'll end this post here.
Just know I'm alive, and recovering, and will know the Real Story next week...

[EDIT: 2010-09-11]
I added this photo from my sister's phone.  Those white circles were some kind of GPS markers for an MRI mapping that lets the surgeon match up the brain images of the tumor with what's actually in my head.
Had I only known in advance, we probably could have gotten my brain on Google maps! :-)

Brain Tumor

Here is a side-view of the actual tumor.
That darker gray splotch in the top center, shaped somewhat like a guitar pick, only not.
I added a big red arrow, as I realized the the vein above could be mistaken for the tumor.

Brain Tumor

Quick Update:
The neurosurgeon says the Functional MRI and MR Spectroscopy point towards a tumor rather than infection.
Surgery on Tuesday.
Don't know what time until Monday night, as they need to keep their schedule flexible until the day before.
A biopsy for sure, and removal of as much as seems prudent, hopefully all of it.
He can't say for sure until he's in there exactly what can come out and has to stay.
Apparently I'll be conscious while he's operating, so he can double-check various brain bits aren't tied to anything important based on what twitches when he touches it or something.
I'd rather just be knocked out and wake up healed, but I'm sure not gonna argue brain surgery.
I'll probably/maybe have paralyzed hands for a week or so.
Won't have biopsy results for 72 hours after surgery. Guess I'll have a race with the Doc to see if I can walk out of the hospital before he has answers. :-)
Don't be surprised if this blog goes silent from 8/31 through 9/7, give or take...
Thanks for your generous donations!
I'll be swamped in bills soon, so it's much appreciated.

Brain Lesion

On Thursday August 12, I suffered a seizure.
My daughters found me, got Mama, and they all saved my life.
I was rushed to the hospital, where I suffered 3 convulsions before being stabilized in ICU.
I regained consciousness on Saturday August 14th.
After more blood/brain/body tests and scans than I want to list here, they found a lesion in my brain in the frontal(?) posterior lobe.
Apparently, it's not called a tumor until they figure out if it's malignant or not.
I've got a functional MRI, and an MRS (MRI Spectroscopy) in upcoming weeks.
My employer is being incredibly gracious about discretionary rules, and bending over backwards to keep my insurance current.
That said, there are deductibles and living expenses and possibly even a gap coming, depending on how much pressure I can exert on hospitals and labs to expedite things.
I don't really like it, but I've added a "Donate" button over on the right; I'd appreciate any help you can give, whatever you can afford.
I'm not a tax lawyer, but as far as I can figure, an individual like me can't be a non-profit, so it would have to fall under the generic "gift" category on your tax forms...
I'll be in and out of labs and hospitals for a few weeks; I'm not allowed to drive for 6 months (or longer, if I suffer another seizure) and that's just the beginnings of how this complicates things.
Thanks for all your prayers (of any flavor) and support! I've had a lot of help already from friends and family, and it is much appreciated!!!

Sprint Sample Silliness

Only Sprint could deliver a camera phone, chock-full of Sample Pictures, which are LOCKED and you cannot DELETE, so you can't take more than ~6 pictures.

And their tech support has no idea how to unlock/delete them.

Innumerable forum threads asking how to delete them exist.

And the only solution appears to be to download the phone OS, hack into it with a JavaLoader or by mounting it on your computer, finding some oddly-named .cod file, and deleting that file before you install the OS.

But the name of the file is version-dependent, and deleting the wrong file gives you a dead phone.

And, really, how tricky can it BE to give users an "unlock" button or just make the sample pictures not locked in the first place?!