Dr. Gary Magram (Chief of Pediatric Neurosurgery), with the assistance of Dr. Sean Jebraili planned on performing the surgery with Ethan in add-on status (hospital equivalent of flying stand-by). This was a very difficult day for Ethan because the anticipation of anesthesia required that Ethan remain NPO (no food/drink) all day. It became very late, and at 4:15pm the decision was made to re-schedule Ethan's surgery for Wednesday. Ethan ate 2 big dinners.
Ethan was discharged from the hospital to enjoy a day at home. His surgery was then scheduled for Wednesday, May 8th, at noon.
As of Monday afternoon, no other viral symptoms had ever become apparent. In retrospect, one theory that emerged was that the tumor was causing a small amount of swelling on the brain. The playground fall the day before may have caused enough additional swelling to "push him over the edge" - so to speak - and cause him to be symptomatic. Perhaps this was all a bizarre string of coincidences that enabled us to stumble on his tumor early.