Ben's Recovery: Follow-Up Visit

Good morning! I am so glad Ben posted yesterday. :-) Being back at work has certainly kept me busier, but it is going well. Ben continues to get better and better, which makes it easier for me to leave each day.

We had the follow-up visit today with Ben's surgeon. We thought we would be meeting with the surgeon's PA, but we got to meet with Dr. Asher instead. That was a pleasant surprise! The appointment went well. Dr. Asher looked at Ben's incision first and said that it was looking great. He said that recovery will continue to take a while, especially given the size and complexity of the tumor...the tumor was (as we knew) compressing Ben's spinal cord significantly. Dr. Asher said that the spinal cord was actually translucent in some areas where the tumor was...how crazy (and scary) is that? He also said that the numbness Ben is experiencing is 'part and parcel' of recovering from this type of surgery. It will take months for Ben to reach the place of ultimate recovery, and it could take up to a year or two for him to reach the final recovery period. We knew it would be a long road, but we can certainly hope for continued improvement moving forward long-term.

Overall, Dr. Asher is extremely pleased with Ben's progress. He used the words 'delighted' and 'phenomonal' to describe his feelings about the recovery so far. That was wonderful to hear! The chance for recurrence of the tumor is low (around 5% or less from what we have read).

Moving forward, Ben will have another MRI in 4 months to assess the cysts on his spinal cord. Dr. Asher said that it could take a while for the cysts to drain, so at that point they could still be there (but hopefully smaller). He is continuing his therapies through May 15th (at which point they'll re-evaluate him and decide on how to move forward). He is released to move his neck as normal (Dr. Asher's words were "you won't break anything"), so he is going to work on stretching it (and his shoulders) out. If his neck and shoulders continue to hurt, Dr. Asher's office is happy to write him a prescription to add neck exercises to his physical therapy routine. Ben is going to give it a few days and see how he's feeling. He has also been tentatively released to drive. He is supposed to practice supervised driving short distances at first to make sure he can use the pedals and do everything he needs to do to drive safely. He is planning to take it slow! Wish us both luck as he practices. :-)

He mentioned yesterday that the last of his steri-strips came off, so I have another couple of pictures to share. The incision is definitely healing!!