March 22, 2012 Update (4:00 pm)

Drea's out of surgery and in recovery. Drea's mom and I just saw her briefly in recovery. I spoke with Dr. Weed around 3:00. Praise God that they did NOT have to go through the temporal bone to access the tumor, which is good news for the length of recovery in the hospital and more importantly, means that her hearing in that ear did not need to be sacrificed. That's the good news. 

Unfortunately, as expected, the vagus nerve needed to be removed. The vagus nerve affects many functions, and this means the recovery process will take some time. How long? It could be days, weeks, months, no definitive answer. The carotid artery in that side was removed but that is inconsequential. Common assumption is that the carotid artery is so important, but because there are two of them and other nerves can take over the same functions, sacrificing one isn't a problem. No other nerves were removed, which was a possibility and is good for the long term. Dr. Weed said the tumor was very close to the nerve which controls the tongue but that nerve is safe. Many nerves were moved and manipulated so there will be recovery time to regain strength in those.

She will be in ICU somewhat soon. She's expected to be sleepy or sleeping most of the day. There are still a ton of what if's and unknowns, but so far, everything has gone as initially expected. As we learn more details about how her swallowing, voice, and other functions were affected, I'll keep you all updated.