Raymond Massey has been evicted

Well, Raymond turned out to be bigger, tougher and meaner than expected, but he has left the Saul building and we do not expect him to return. Raymond put up a pretty good fight, causing the team of neuro-sheriffs to hit him with all they had -- the brain surgeon's equivalent of chisels, hammers and saws. The battle lasted in excess of 10 hours. John B. won, but had to give up all of his lower eye socket and most of the upper part to Raymond, who was "fully involved" in those areas. That caused the need to reconstruct John's "orbit" (socket) from a combination of materials including titanium mesh and a compound called "methacolite" (my spelling), which surgeons say is very hard but far less expensive than the new "bone glue" that costs 5 grand a pellet....John would have required something in the neighborhood of 50 pellets, so he got the older technology.....Your insurance premiums at work.
The lead surgeon, Dr. Laligam Sekhar (pronounced Shaker, and yes his reputed "golden hands" proved to be just that), then removed a rather large piece of the dura (sheath) covering the brain because Raymond was installed there, too. The doc patched this area with a synthetic material and with tissue from the underside of John's scalp, requiring a long, painstaking stitching procedure all around. Then on to the sinus, where Mr. Massey, sneaky devil that he was, had also set up an outpost. The hole created was filled with some fat from  John's stomach. (I volunteered my abundant supply, but they refused. Guess I'll have to work it off after all, Seattle Athletic Club pals!)
After a long day of hearing very little about what was going on in the OR, I finally got a visit from the surgeons when they emerged to report all of this,  but it wasn't til late last night that John was moved to the Neuro Science ICU, unit A, in the West Hospital at Harborview. He was awake and alert, did some tricks for the docs, and remained stable through the night. He's sucked on about a gallon of ice chips, had some yogurt and juice and has already been taken off several of the many tubes running in and out of various body parts.
Challenges/risks remain (infection, swelling etc), and the lower right quadrant of his sight is blank. But that may change. And even if it doesn't, it's not that much worse than the double vision he experienced while Raymond was in residence. There is no double vision now, and that is a pleasant surprise. We expected some, even a lot.
He also has a tube under his scalp, managing fluid buildup. It makes him look like a candidate for a part in "Battle Star Galactica," but not bad, considering what he's been through.
He's dozing now, and will be needing to rest up for the next set of tricks the docs are plotting. They intend to get him upright and standing within the next few hours. Then, they'll take out the head tube and put a tube in his spine to control cerebral spinal fluid buildup and keep down the swelling. He's got quite an impressive incision across the top of his head, says he feels like he's been in a bar fight and lost, but actually not too badly.
CT and MRI scans post-op both look "very good."
All is well.
Thank you so much, Trish, Fred, Taz and cousin John for holding my hand.
Thanks, too, for all the offers of help, encouragment and general good will. You guys are the best. John B and I feel very lucky indeed.
As usual, the editor needs an editor. (Trim this thing!!!!) But now that you know the good stuff, I'll try to keep it shorter from here on out. If we get a chance to post this very "interesting" picture of what they took out, we'll do it. All you writers, you know I'd ask you for a much better descriptor than "interesting." I'll start: how about hellacious?!
Love and kisses to all, Sister Kathleen Ann