So, in the interest of tossing a quick update on here, I’m all lined up for what everyone has referred to as a relatively-minor surgery on Tuesday 9/14.  This procedure will get rid of my puffy head once and for all (knock on wood).  For your medical reading pleasure, you can up more on Ventriculoperitoneal shunting by clicking here.  I wish I could say I completely understand how this procedure goes down; but the fact that everyone I’ve talked with says this needs to happen, and all the research I’ve seen says that the risks of treatment are outweighed by the risks of inaction, I’m good with just laying on a table, then getting woken up on the other side with a better understanding of what just happened (hey, I still haven’t really figured out this plastic plate I’ve got up there). 

Prayers, as always, are appreciated for the docs, for the surgery & recovery, and that this darn thing would work, not get infected, and not otherwise complicate things any further.  I’d kind of like to not see my neurosurgeon for awhile (if not ever again, unless we bump into each other at the park).

I am, however, rememebering to be thankful for some encouraging stuff God’s thrown together lately:  I put out a feeler for lodging & pre-dawn transportation near UW, and had many offers of assistance (with my selecting the one that would involve the least sleep deprivation for the generous host/driver).  Also, the fact that I was able to wedge this surgery in the day before my next chemo treatment (9/15), means one less 2 hr drive each way; a tremendous “little thing.”  Thank you, Lord, for little things that aren’t so little!  Plus, I got back to work this past week, to my job with middle school kids, and was eagerly & lovingly welcomed by supportive co-workers and supervisors (who have bent over backwards to work within my physical limits and scheduling needs).  Plus, those amazing medical benefits I’m not going to take for granted. 

OK, I could keep going, but you get the point.  Sometimes, life stinks, but there’s always good stuff going on if you stop to look for it.  But you have to CHOOSE to see it.  Otherwise, you’re gonna be staring at the same miserable, depressing stuff all your life; let me know how much fun you have doing that…