Former Phillie Darren Daulton had two brain tumors removed while undergoing seven hours of surgery on Monday at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital.
Daulton, who now hosts a radio show on 97.5 FM The Fanatic, announced last week that he had been diagnosed with the brain tumors.
The surgery was performed by Dr. Kevin D. Judy, M.D., who specializes in neurosurgery.
"We did what's called an awake craniotomy," Judy said. "We took him to the operating room and sedated him, but did not use general anesthesia, so then we used a form of novocaine to numb up his scalp and then once we opened everything up, we woke him up so we could directly map the language function on his brain."
With the permission from Daulton's family, Judy announced that the 51-year-old Daulton had a glioma, which is a tumor that arises from the brain tissue itself and is not spread from cancer anywhere else in the body. Judy said that they do not have the final pathology on the glioma, but "patients over 40 (years of age) with gliomas, just about all of them are treated with radiation." However, Judy said until they see the final pathology, the particulars for Daulton's recovery are undetermined.
Judy said Daulton's spirits are high and he's been speaking quite a bit.
Daulton brought himself to medical attention because he had difficulty fully understanding and expressing himself.
"I would expect it's going to take him probably three to four weeks to get over the surgery," Judy said. "As far as full recovery, he did have some trouble prior to surgery with the language function, so we'll have to see how that evolves."
Fans can continue to send Daulton get well wishes at dutch@975thefanatic.com.