Day 1 of testing in the books

Hi all...

We are back at the hotel after a day that began at 6:20 AM with a frigid walk (even through the skywalks) to Tim's first test. He's had blood work, a chest x-ray and an MRI all before lunch :)

We then spent much of the afternoon meeting with 2 of the 4 members of Tim's surgical team. Our first meeting was with the General Surgeon, a woman originally from Germany who put us all at ease from the start. We were very impressed with her and got a lot of questions answered about the surgery and what to expect. We went through the risks and potential outcomes and feel like most of our initial concerns were addressed quite clearly. She did alert us of the possibility that Tim may have to recover in ICU and would remain there if complications arose.

Our second visit was with the Neurologist, Dr. Spinner, who despite being a Duke grad, assured us that he was going to do his best to protect Tim's nerves. He couldn't, however, promise us Tim's golf handicap would go down following surgery. He made it clear that it was going to be a surgery that he felt was going to take most of the day on Monday, but that they would take their time and remove the tumor to the best of their ability.

We have 2 more consultations tomorrow, with the Urology and Vascular surgeons, and are anxious to hear their opinions on the surgery.