Year of the 龙

In Chinese, dragon is pronounced 'long' (long o - no pun intended) and there has been some recent controversy here about the new Dragon Stamp which was unveiled prompting some silly considerations of rebranding the whole Lunar year as Long instead of Dragon to avoid the association with the fire-breathing monster known in the West: Washington Post Article.

But as we prepare here for another whole week of public holiday, we kicked off the year with some great news.  I accompanied Jenn to ProMed for her 1-year MRI and it was totally clean.  An auspicious beginning!  Cheers to that!!

Birthday Update

On Jenn's birthday eve, we had what my manager astutely called the baseline MRI for what will become a long chronicle of tests and visits to Sloan Kettering.  We were thrilled and relieved to hear that everything looked fine.  There was some obvious scarring which is expected but nothing abnormal and the doctor said it looked great.  The one hiccup came when we asked for the results of the genetic test (1p/19q).  Apparently, the pathology department over at Cornell Med was not willing to part with any tissue samples so they were unable to run any tests.  Jenn is planning on taking a trip over to the hospital to demand her brain cells but other than that, we had a lot to celebrate for this year's birthday.  On the day of her birth, we had a very nice private dinner at 508 with 10 close friends.  Unlimited wine and a delicious prix fixe menu (thank you Denise) led to an interesting and long night.

On Saturday, a very hungover Jenn took it easy and enjoyed some homemade pizzas that I made. The less photogenic fig and prosciutto pie was a big hit.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to friends in Japan and to all the victims of the devastating earthquake and tsunami.

Hallmark Holiday

Happy Valentine's Day to all.  Given that we have a potential hefty hospital bill (30% deductible) coming our way from the out-of-network surgery we did not do anything extravagant.  As is our normal tradition, we celebrated the night before at Son Cubano, a new swank restaurant/nightclub-wannabe that opened in our complex.  On the Hallmark holiday itself, we ordered Domino's pizza and watched a Charlie Brown Valentine and then Jenn's movie-of-choice: "The Way We Were"

On Sunday, Jenn gave me the mother of all scares.  She had been off of her anti-seizure medication for exactly one week.  In the middle of the night while we were sleeping, she began to seemingly convulse in her sleep.  Thinking that she was having a seizure I leaped out of bed and fumbled blindly for the light.  As I frantically checked if she was okay, she woke up blurry-eyed smiling and mumbled about how funny her dream had been.  She had actually been chuckling heartily to herself in her sleep!

The Results

We just returned from the hospital for a follow-up visit.  The 
post-surgery MRI showed that the tumor was completely removed and the 
biopsy results were that it was a low-grade type II astrocytoma. 
Although we would have preferred a type I diagnosis it is definitely 
positive compared to the scarier alternatives.

Jenn is relieved to have had the 59 staples removed from her head and 
continues to rest since the barrage of drugs renders her groggy and 
lethargic.  Luckily, as she is being tapered off some of the meds, we no 
longer have to wake up every 2-3 hours which oftentimes consisted of me 
holding her nose at 5 AM so that she would open her mouth to take the 
pills.  She's happy to be home and has been busy catching up on the DVR 
and playing lots of Words with Friends on the iPad (username: LilSu).

The nurse recommended a 6 week recovery time before she would begin 
to feel "normal" again and we also need several follow-up appointments 
with neuro-oncologists and neurologists.  Although the scariest surgical 
part is behind us now, it will be a slow restoration process.  This has
been eased by the outpouring of support, prayers, and positive thoughts 
from everyone.

Home Sweet Home

Jenn was discharged from New York Presbyterian Hospital this afternoon.  
She was delighted that she was able to wash her hair although she then 
began fretting over what kind of hairdo would best cover up the huge 
incision across her scalp.  Jenn joked that she would sport the Snooki 
Poof.  There was no doubt in my mind that all her neurons were firing 
correctly when she wanted to make a quick stop at Burger Joint on the 
way home.  I double-parked the car, threw on the hazards, ran into Le 
Parker Meridien and got her a cheeseburger deluxe with fries to go.

She has been resting at home now and enjoying the home-cooked food. 
Unfortunately, still no biopsy results but we are keeping busy with 
stocking our own little pharmacy here and the rigorous timetable of 
medicines.  Everything has been programmed into my Blackberry so I hope 
that Outlook Calendar does not fail me.

Hospital Day 3

With the threat of a snowstorm in the Northeast, we were a little
unsure what Wednesday may bring but although Jenn's neurosurgeon took
the day off, this did not hinder her recovery process in any way.  Her
bandages were removed today to reveal what she likes to call her "Mrs.
Frankenstein look".  It is actually not that bad and they tried to
remove as little hair as possible so that it almost looks like a
hairband, unfortunately, this head band is made up of very large
staples.  The arterial line, catheter, and all active IV's have also
been removed so she is able to freely move around and walk to the
bathroom without any support.  She counted the number of holes on both
arms and the running count is 12 total.  If they continue to take blood
samples, she could be an extra on True Blood.

In the past two days, she was moved from the Post-Operative Recovery
room to the Neuro Surgery ICU to the Step-Down room and finally to 'The
Floor'.  This is the last step before being discharged from the hospital
and they have indicated that Jenn may be able to come home tomorrow. She is itching (literally and figuratively) to leave the hospital and the
nurses are all optimistic since she has passed the battery of tests and
is only taking Percocet for the pain at this point.  Jenn has not been
sleeping well sharing her room last night with an old lady who was very
particular and vocal about the temperature of the water she demanded
throughout the night.  Hopefully by Thursday night, she will be back in
her own bed with her little dog Calvin snuggled in her arms and the only
noise she will have to deal with is my snoring.

Jenn's Post-Op Update

After 13 hours in the hospital, we were finally able to see Jenn in the post-operative recovery room. It was a long day of waiting for her mother and I but we all had a good laugh when Jenn was being wheeled into surgery and her mother said "think happy thoughts, think of Calvin" which just happened to be the name of the orderly pushing her wheelchair!  Of course we meant Jenn's little white Maltese dog back home but Calvin the Nurse Assistant said "yeah think of me, everything will be fine."  We were fully expecting Jenn to still be knocked out especially since the nurse told us she was sleeping but when her mom and I walked in to see her, she slowly flickered her eyes open and bravely forced a small smile. She was tired and dehydrated but was able to speak and told us that her flatulent neighbor was very noisy (we indeed heard it several times). She was cognizant and able to talk although the anesthesia and painkillers eventually kicked in and she drifted in and out of consciousness. We are thankful that this was detected early, the surgery was smooth, and they were able to completely remove the glioma (tumor). Now we anxiously await the results of the pathology test.

Unicorn

Long story short, on November 2, 2010 after some completely unrelated doctor's visits and blood work, an MRI was ordered to look into elevated levels of prolactin protein in my wife and they discovered a 3 cm tumor in her right frontal lobe.  We made the difficult decision to have it removed and the operation was scheduled for January 10.  Although this was obviously shocking and stressful news, we eventually saw the blessing in disguise that it was discovered early and began a joke that Jenn was a unicorn because of the growth in her head.

New Decade

As we welcome in 2011, I am trying to revive this blog again. A lot has happened since my last post. I bought a new home along the Hudson River in Port Imperial, a nice duplex two bedroom place. Graduated from Columbia Business School's EMBA program and then celebrated my 30th birthday party which was capped off by a concrete face-plant in the garage while my fiancé freaked out at the blood oozing from my cheekbone. Less than a month later, I was married to my beautiful wife Jennifer (you could barely see the scar on my face with some well placed tinted Clearasil). Along with tying the knot with my better half, I also inherited her little Maltese named Calvin so we have a little furry poo and pee machine to complete our new home.  For details and pictures on the wedding, please click HERE.

Back from the West

Just got back from a great long road trip with Jenn "Into the West" (Colorado and New Mexico). Here's a pic of me sandboarding at the Great Sand Dunes National Park.