Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Still on Target

On the recommendation of Michelle (Mike's beautiful wife), dad sought a second opinion today with Dr. Randy Jensen at the Huntsman Cancer Institute (http://www.huntsmancancer.org/patientInformation/bios/jensen.jsp).  Dad was really encouraged by Dr. Jensen and his thoughts on the situation and has decided to go forward with him for his surgery and treatment.   

Dad's biggest concern is his speech and language functionality after surgery.  To preserve as much as possible, Dr. Jensen has recommended a Functional MRI prior to surgery.  This procedure is an imaging technique where brain activity and function is mapped.  Dad will be asked to read passages and respond to questions and pictures while brain images are taken.  This allows the doctor to see exactly where the speech and language centers of the brain are since these are slightly unique for each person.  These images are then synced to the images of the Deathstar.  In some patients, this allows for a cleaner surgery.  The Functional MRI is scheduled for Thursday of this week (March 17) and dad's brain surgery has been postponed to next week, in order to wait for the processing of the new MRI.  As soon as a date is scheduled, we will let you know.  My mom will correct me if I missed anything. :)


On another note -- I've decided to share a picture of dad every time I post.  My brother Robert was a huge hockey fan growing up (hence the Puckhead hat and the Red Wings hat in the background).  We all seemed to follow hockey for a time, and some of us still do.  I get a kick out of this picture every time I see it.  Dad loves to watch sports.  He was quite the Lakers fan when we were growing up.  I can still name almost the entire team from 1983: Abdul-Jabbar, Scott, Cooper, Johnson, Garrett, Jordan (not Michael), Nater, Kupchak, and others I can't remember.  (I honestly did that without looking.)  We had good times growing up watching sports together.  Gotta love that mustache!

UPDATE:  The original post stated that Dr. Colman would be surgeon.  After clarification, Dr. Colman will be dad's oncologist, and Dr. Randy Jensen, now listed above will be the surgeon. 

4 comments:

  1. I thought the name of the doctor Michelle recommended was Dr Fults?

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  2. AWESOME picture of David! LOL

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  3. Alina - I checked with mom and made a correction to the post. Dr. Jensen is the surgeon and Dr. Colman is the oncologist. Not sure who Dr. Fults is?

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  4. Dr Fults is just a guy with an awesome name. I love the picture!!

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