It's time

First off, I want to thank everybody who has sent me their best wishes through e-mail, phone messages, or even just thoughts. It really means a lot to me.

Today I went through an MRI, an MS, and an MSI. The MRI once again provided stimulation of my "bird wings". A lot of time was actually spent adjusting the system to reduce the peripheral nerve stimulation, but apparently I'm "unique". I am the only person to date who had the experience I had all the way through the imaging. The conclusion? That system has twice the magnetic power of the other systems I've used (3 Tesla vs. 1.5 Tesla) and apparently I'm quite sensitive....

This was my first exposure to MSI, and it was very interesting. MSI stands for Magnetic Source Imaging, and the idea is simple. You go through a series of sensory and mechanical "test cases" while they monitor the magnetic signals produced by your brain. I was given visual, auditory, and sensory inputs and also had to produce similar outputs. Dr. Berger runs these tests on all of his patients to provide additional mapping to the MRI. It's apparently similar to fMRI (KP - care to comment?) but easier to measure. The room itself looked like a research lab, but the procedure was pretty interesting to me (maybe because it was a research lab?) I'm still hoping to see the match-up between the MRI and the MSI at some point. So someone should remind me, as I have a tendency to forget due to my...never mind.

Of course, I should've remembered what happened down at Cedars-Sinai the day prior to surgery. Yep, once again it was "feduciary day".

Now I've gotta make sure I don't accidentally scratch any of them off tonight.

In other news, I finally met with Dr. Berger and it was really great to talk to him. We are now going to proceed with the "awake surgery". Even though he doesn't seem to think it's necessary, he did say that if I felt more comfortable with that approach, we should go with it. He also mentioned that he was going to take a biopsy of the area where my previous tumor was located, and if he finds something there he will remove it as well. That definitely made us all happy we chose him!

My mom and sister have been watching after me, and will continue to do so over the next several days. I love my family! And I love my friends too! Thanks again for all your support, and I'll catch you on the other side.