The Emergency Room and Beyond

Fortunately, it was a slow night at Kootenai Health when we arrived at around 10:00 pm.  We were taken back almost immediately.  Initial tests ruled out a stroke, and the subsequent CAT scan revealed significant swelling in Sherry's brain.  She was admitted at about 2:00 am on Tuesday, September 15th. 

At around 10:00 am Sherry had the first of three MRIs.  These revealed four tumors and an additional area of swelling, but without a tumor that the MRI could detect.  The queston then was "What kind of tumors are these?"  According to the neurosurgeon the list was pretty short with about four possibilities.  A biopsy was the only way to provide an answer.  So, brain surgery was scheduled for 2:00 pm on September 16th for the purpose of obtaining a tissue sample from one of the tumors.  The surgeion elected to biopsy the tumor on the sensory lobe.  He thought that taking a biopsy from the tumor on the motor lobe posed too much risk for impairment although that tumor, like the one on the sensory lobe, was near the outside of Sherry's brain.  The other tumors were too deep inside the brain.

The parameters of our reality had suddenly become constricted, intense, and immediate.