Spending our last night in San Francisco celebrating Norma's health with family <3
POST SURGERY: DAY THREE
Hello everyone,
The bandages came off today! Today consisted of relaxing, eating, napping, Hallmark Christmas movies and walking laps around the 8th floor of UCSF. Not too much to report except for the back of my mom's head looks SO BADASS with her stitches I can't even explain it. We won't put a pic here just in case you are squeamish, but if you want to see...... click HERE!
Tomorrow she will be discharged in the morning, and we will head to our hotel in the city for the night. Sunday we will drive to Pismo beach to stay in Brendan's house again until we head back to Hermosa Beach Monday!
POST SURGERY: DAY TWO
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.
POST SURGERY: DAY ONE
She's grrrrrrrreeeeat!
Only side effect is pain in the back of the head where the incisions are, besides that she is in good spirits and doing wonderful. Thank you to everyone who gave her strength to get through this. She is so grateful and can't wait to read your notes. She will be getting breakfast in the morning and moved to a normal room if all goes well. The goal is for her to be discharged Friday so we can drive home at some point this weekend if she feels up to it!
Special thank you to Bryan's good friend Scott Rosenberg for bringing food and staying with Maya while the family said goodbye to mom before she went into the OR!
She made it!
Hi!
We just got the call from Dr McDermott!
They are closing her up now and the surgery went extremely well! He believes he got ALL of the tumor... if anything there may be microscopic bits left in there but that’s nothing to worry about. They also tested the tumor that they removed and it was benign. We will see her in about an hour or so and learn what comes next! She Will be sleeping in the ICU tonight and hopefully moving to a regular hospital room tomorrow.
A Note from Norma
Hi Everyone,
The family is now patiently waiting in the cafeteria, no updates yet from the nurses. Thanks so much to Bryan's great friend Scott Rosenberg anted to be sure to thank him on the blog for bringing food and staying with Maya...Earlier today my mom asked me to check her phone but not until she got to the OR. The following is from her to you:
To Everyone
I can't thank you enough for the love you have shown us. It really takes a village and I'm so honored that you are part of mine. This journey has been a bit of a roller coaster, but as I lay here in bed, the night before surgery, I'm filled with emotions of thanks and gratitude. I am humbled by your support and look forward to celebrating a new beginning with all of you. I'd like to say this will be a piece of cake, but I'd only be fooling myself. I am confident Dr. McDermott is going to nail this and having had the opportunity, this sleepless night, to watch the video Ginger posted made me love him even more. Absolutely brilliant man. I hope and pray that he finds my surgery a bore and that our little Ginger's blog provides you all with comfort and a few laughs like it has us. See you on the other side. I love you. Xoxoxo
STILL WAITING
Hi all,
Surgery has been delayed due to some surgeries this morning taking longer than expected. We met wit Dr McDermott, Dr Rutkowski, and two anesthesiologists
She should be going in at about 4:00ish now and the surgeon anticipates it taking 3-5 hours. From there she will need an hour and a half in the ICU alone, then we can go in and visit her! She will spend the night in the ICU and about 3-4 days in the hospital after. If all goes well she will be discharged this weekend!
Waiting Room
Hi everyone,
We're all at the hospital now, looks like surgery should begin at 1pm!
They are estimating the procedure will take approximately four hours from there.
Norma is feeling fine, not nervous, she just has some butterflies and is excited the day is finally here. I think Maya might be the nervous one, seeing as she just threw up in the waiting room. 😳
-G
On our way!
The Night Before
The last leg of our road trip to San Francisco started off with a bang... Bryan went 95 in a 70! Who would have ever predicted that the officer's wife had undergone a very similar brain surgery at UCSF fifteen years ago, so he decided to give Norma advice, tips and well wishes instead of giving Bry a ticket! (PS his wife is doing just fine today.)
As soon as mom went in for her MRI, Maya proceeded to stare out the window for about twenty minutes, then played high-five with Bryan for some of those homemade meatballs from last night. Diane joined us at the Imaging Lab and brought mom a present... a great Alexander McQueen scarf she has had her eye on (you know how she loves her headscarves) which was absolutely perfect timing because.....
.... because she got these great lifesaver-cheerio-skittle-looking foam things GLUED to her head! They even had to shave bits of her head to get them on there real good. She won't stop doing the robot now. These are to help guide Dr. McDermott tomorrow while referencing the MRI's she had done today.
TOMORROW:
We are set to arrive at UCSF at 10:45am tomorrow to get Norma checked in and ready for her procedure. We don't know what time her surgery begins, or how long it will take. Bryan and I will be putting updates on here as soon as we are aware to keep you informed. Feel free to text/call me at 310-343-3642 with any questions!
xoxo, Ginger
2 Days before surgery: The road trip continues
Hello everyone!
The Rosenberg/Duran gang woke up in Beautiful Bakersfield this morning feeling pretty tired, achey, and annoyed at our upstairs neighbors who decided to have some sort of tap dancing or bowling party at 4am without inviting us. After some recovery time and a work sesh for B and I, we grabbed some smoothies and made the quick trip over to Pismo Beach, listening to Snoop Dogg and Grateful Dead the entire way.
Biggest thank you to Bryan's dear friend Brenden Beck for not only allowing us to spend the evening at his gorgeous place in Pismo with this awesome view, but also setting us up with a major wine and cheese spread to immediately inhale upon our arrival. We are debating moving the surgery date so we can stay here a few more days (just kidding). Mom is now making some organic grass fed gluten free clean eating low fat meatballs for Maya to enjoy during our stay away from home while Bryan watches The Voice.
Tomorrow we will spend our morning here in Pismo Beach, then pop up to UCSF to get Norma to her Pre-Op MRI of her beautiful brain where they will get the last images to make sure she is good to go for the surgery, which will be at 10:45am Wednesday.
xoxo
G
FOR THOSE OF YOU ASKING ABOUT SENDING FLOWERS
First of all, thank you for wanting to lift Norma's spirits with a sweet gift before the surgery. Your kindness is truly appreciated.
Because we are traveling and unsure of the flower policy at the hospital during her stay, she prefers to not have any flowers sent to her before the procedure. If all goes as planned we will be back in Hermosa Beach on Monday.
In the meantime she is really enjoying reading the messages you have left here for her. She just told me that all the love she is getting gives her the strength to get through this.
3 days before surgery: the roadtrip begins
Hi everyone!
It's about 6pm on Sunday evening and Maya, Bryan, mom and I are about to take off on our road trip to our first stop... Bakersfield! From there we will be going to Pismo Beach Monday morning, then finally to San Francisco Tuesday afternoon for Norma's final doctor's visit before the procedure Wednesday morning.
She will be getting her procedure done at UCSF by the wonderful, handsome and highly intelligent Dr. Michael McDermott. Wanna know more about him?
How is Norma doing today?
I asked! She said she is "excited, nervous and fortunate". She has some pressure on her head, which she thinks this is from stress and being sick for the past couple of weeks. She is looking forward to reading and rereading all of your comments on the Notes for Norma section too! Thanks for all of the good wishes and positive vibes <3
PS thanks to everyone who came out to the LA Brain Tumor Walk yesterday!
4 days before surgery
Hey everyone,
Ginger (Norma’s daughter) here!
This is where I’ll be posting all updates on my mom’s road to surgery and recovery thereafter.
We know it’s going to be a long journey ahead and we thoroughly appreciate all the love and support you send our way.
As part of the recovery, mom won’t have much access to her phone, so if you have any questions or messages of support we ask you to post them on this site under the Notes For Norma section rather than directly messaging her. This will allow her to see all your beautiful messages in one place.
On behalf of mom, Bryan, Maya and myself, we thank you in advance for your kind words and thoughtful prayers.
If anything is urgent, I will be on my phone the entire time so feel free to contact me at (310) 343-3642.
Love, (Ginger, Bryan and Maya) Norma xx
