Complications

As Jason was beginning to wake up he was following commands and breathing on his own so they removed the breathing tube from the surgery. At first they were pleased and were on their way to moving him to the SICU and over 10 to 15 minuets. His lungs would not fill up which meant he had an upper airway obstruction. They paged an ENT to come in exam his vocal cords and found that they were not functioning properly (completely closed off), one side is already paralyzed.

Jason's neck is limited to the movement in his neck. This is one of the most difficult intubation they have seen.

We have spoken to all the doctors involved and they are telling us that he is stable. They are unsure of the length of time he will need to have assistance breathing. They recommend that this is left in for his next few surgeries.

They will keep him sedated overnight. Jason will be extremely anxious when he wakes up. He will be able to speak with the external airway if he covers the opening.

Surgery is complete

We have spoken to the Doctor...Jason has begun his recovery. They were able to remove the entire tumor that they went in for. It was removed without damage to the speech nerve (huge relief) there was too much damage on a section of the facial nerve which needed to be removed. This nerve was long enough that they were able to reconnect the two sections. It may take up to a year to fully recover, in the meantime both sides of his face will be paralyzed for a time.

While they were in there they discovered another two small tumors, they did not attempt to remove them in their entirety (only partially) because of the nerves they were on they would have caused too much damage to his throat

We were just notified that we will be able to see Jason around 8:30pm in Surgical Intensive Care Unit. They anticipate that he will remain in SICU over night and then graduate to another room.

3rd Update

They are still working on the removal of the tumor....and will update us in another 2 hrs.

2nd Update

3:15pm update: Dr. McDonald had a farm...ei..ei...o (sorry it has been a day) Dr. McDonald is still working under the microscope removing the tumor without damaging the speech nerve. It is still expected to be a few more hours.

Surgery Update

Just received an update (1:10pm) that Jason is doing well, at this point the doctors anticipate many more hours.....

Surgery has begun

The day started out very early for Jason. He needed to be at the U of U at 7am. Because of the difficulties they had inserting the breathing tube with his last surgery, they needed to insert the tube while Jason was still awake and breathing on his own. This required multiple forms of medication, an oral spray, a jell swish, in addition to those inserted via his IV. At first he was not having it, he covered his mouth and repeatedly said no. Apparently, the taste was quite horrible. After his wife, Elsie explained the necessity of this process he understood, cooperated but hated every second of it.

At 8:30am we said our good-bye's and they took him back to begin prepping him for surgery. He seemed more nervous to me with this surgery than the one on Sept 19 2008. I am not sure if it because there is a high probability that he will loose his ability to speak or if other factors are weighing heavy on him. Most may already know Katie, his 13yr old daughter has just been diagnosed with NF2.

A little after 11am we received an update letting us know that the surgery had just begun. Inserting the breathing tube did not go as smoothly as they had hoped it might.

The duration of the surgery is scheduled between 4 and 6hrs. May God be with him and the surgical team as they remove one more of the many tumors that have invaded Jason's body.

We as a family appreciate everyone who has expressed their love and provided their support and prayers on our behalf. We will update Jason's Journey throughout the day.