My surgery is in two weeks and I’m starting to think about packing. What does one wear to brain surgery? I’m finding a lot of help on Reddit, but if you have thoughts, let me know. In the meantime, here are some of the questions I’ve been fielding lately.

What’s going to happen to your hair? Will you have a scar?

As I’ve mentioned, I’m so fortunate that my tumor is not cancerous. I will not need any type of chemo or radiation, so my hair will not fall out. The absolutely amazing thing is that they won’t even have to cut my hair and my scar will not be visible to anyone but David, my fabulous hair guy.

Where are you staying and how long will you be gone?

My husband and I will be in Palo Alto, California, for the surgery. I should be in the hospital for only two nights, three at the most. Then I’ll stay at my sister’s place in the East Bay for the next couple of weeks. I’ll fly home later in the month as long as everything goes as expected.

How do they remove the tumor?

This is where it gets ugly. The full procedure is called a craniotomy middle fossa orbitozygomatic approach with image guided navigation. You intrepid folks can google that for pictures and videos. I tried but I couldn’t look. I’ve found it’s better to think about this abstractly. If you don’t want to know the gory details, jump down to the picture of Ruby.

[WARNING: GORY DETAILS]

Here’s how it’s going down. The entire procedure will take four to five hours. First, they will part my hair across the top of my head, about where you would wear a headband. They will cut a curved flap in the skin, then pull the flap forward to expose the bones over my right eye. The surgeon will cut an opening in my forehead so he can thread the light, camera, and tiny surgical instruments under my brain and remove the tumor in bits. Once the tumor’s removed completely, they’ll replace the piece of bone and attach it with a small titanium plate and screws. (I’ve been assured that I won’t set off the alarms at the airport.) They’ll staple my skin back in place across the top of my head, and I’ll be on my way. The staples come out two weeks later. Ultimately, the only thing visible will be hidden by my hair.

[GORY DETAILS FINISHED]

Aren’t you nervous?

I’d be nuts if I weren’t, but I know I’ve done my due diligence, and I fully trust the folks at Stanford to take good care of me. I am not nervous when I fly because statistics (but I avoid looking at pictures of plane crashes anyway). Same thing with the surgery. They know what they’re doing and have a great success rate. I know that the first week or two after the surgery is going to be rough, but all I have to do is take drugs and sleep, so it will be fine. My sister will be taking good care of me.

What happens after that?

I’ll still be getting regular MRIs for a while and have an occasional follow-up visit with the surgeon. But if all goes to plan and he’s able to remove it completely, the surgery should be the end of it. I’ll be on my way and back to normal once my head has healed.

If a small bit of the tumor has to be left, it will continue to grow slowly and we’ll deal with it when we need to. And people who get meningiomas are a little more likely to get more than one, so we’ll need to watch for that. But I’m really not worried about that. It’s a waste of time and energy to worry about things that haven’t happened yet.

“What, me worry?” – Alfred E. Newman