G-d has been with us and done even more than we asked or thought. We are so happy and grateful.
So sorry to keep you in suspense. The internet connection for computer in the lounge at the hospital's hotel was not working, and I couldn't figure out how to connect the laptop via modem -- Kev is my technical advisor in these things.
All prayers were answered and then some. Here's the important "how's he doing?" stuff. Will write later about some neat ways G-d was very real and near.
1. They performed a 100% cytoreduction -- translation, they got all visible tumors and growths!!!! When I said to Dr. S. "So, that means his 5-year survival rate is now up to 50%, right?" He said, "I would say for Kevin right now, it is at least 60%."
2. They were able to leave Kevin's bowel intact, and the surgeon (Dr. S.) says the ileostomy will be reversed in 3 to 6 months, barring any return of the tumors that would make it necessary to take more of the intestinal track -- chances of that happening prior to time of reversal are slim to none.
3. The surgery lasted only 10 hours, instead of the 12 they projected, though with the first and only update -- at about 10:30 a.m. they said that the surgery would take an extra 3 hours, so when they called me in my hotel room at 6:00 p.m., I thought there were 5 hours to go. They said Dr.S. was coming out to talk to the family and I thought something must have gone horribly wrong, though in my heart I didn't believe that. (There's more to this story. It's a comedy of errors that sounds like a far-fetched sitcom. I'll write about it later). I was however relieved when I learned that someone had given me wrong info. about the surgery being expected to take longer and that they were done and Kev was doing better than they had hoped. Alice's mom (Alice is the young woman from Hoboken whose surgery was the day after Kev's) said she saw Dr. S's office manager/wife Ilsa the day after Kev's surgery and Ilsa told her the surgical staff was still glowing & bubbling from how well Kevin's surgery had gone!
4. The kidneys and bladder had lots of tumors on the surface, which had become hardened. The entire abdominal wall was lined with nodules, too thought they were softer. Dr. S. felt that the 2 cycles of chemo Kev had done previous to the surgery had softened up most of the nodules throughout the cavity making removing them easier. The ones on the bowel were still hard pretty hard though and very difficult to remove without removing bowel with them. (That would have meant a permanent ostomy, and Dr. S. told Kev prior to the surgery that he hates to give permanent ostomies. He told me after the surgery that they used special tiny scissors to snip as much as they could, then they would stir the chemo in wash in the abdomen to soften things up, then snip some more, then stir, snip, stir, snip, stir... until they finally were able to get the tumors off and save the bowel. We LOVE this man!!
5. Kevin is not having the five days of wash that normally follows this procedure because Dr. S. felt that Kev's innards could not handle anymore toxicity as: a) vital organs (kidneys & bladder) had been pretty scraped up, b) there were internal holes left from where they removed the mesh used to repair his hernia 5 years ago (they will close on their own before we leave), and c) because the chemo wash they used the surgery was with a drug much more potent than they usually use. (We elected to use it as part of a study at the recommendation of both Dr. S. and our oncologist, Dr. Ratner.) Though we won't know for certain until we get the pathology report in about a week and a half, Dr. S. feels so confident that all the cancer was contained in the cavity and taken care of during the surgery, he thinks Kev might not even need to complete his systemic chemo course when we get home! If that turns out to be the case, then that is certainly above what we asked G-d for in prayer.
6. The area around the spleen was clean, so the spleen was left. Gall bladder and lots of other non-essentials -- yes, of course the bellybutton! -- were removed.
Kevin spent only one night in ICU and is now in a private room with a cot for me to sleep on. He's feeling good, in very little pain, and cracking jokes. The NG tube is a discomfort, but not nearly as bad as when in St. Lukes-Roosevelt. The nurse told us that Dr. S. had the manufacturers design one for his patients that is smaller in diameter, softer and more flexible. He did not sleep well last night due to itching. (They had a rough pad under him; we got them to put a sheet on top and that solved that problem), and being tired was his biggest complaint today.
Dr. S. said that we should try to keep Kevin up during the day so he could sleep at night and get back on a more normal schedule, which helps healing. So, we all (Kev's parents and mine are here) took turns annoying him by talking loudly, asking him questions and making him do his exercises. He was actually a great sport about doing them, knowing the more active he is, the sooner he's likely to get out of here. The exercises consist of using a breathing tube 10 reps an hour, bending his legs at the knees and straightening them for 10 reps every 2 hours and clenching his fists and doing weightless bicep curls.
Dr. S. also said he needed to "dangle" today (put his legs over side of the bed and sit upright on edge of bed). Kevin managed a "3/4 dangle"; he could not sit upright all the way because of the pull on the stitches. Tomorrow they will get him up and make him walk a little. He and Alice (the 26-year-old whose surgery was day after his) have a bet over which of them will make it down the hall first. Kevin decided it was time for his dangle when he heard that Alice was bugging the nurses in ICU today to let her get out of bed!
We haven't read all our emails yet; I just started reading them to Kevin when he decided 8:30 was time for sleep. I will read them to him tomorrow, and we'll respond as we find time.
Thank you for all the support and prayer; we know we owe this wonderful outcome to G-d's loving kindness. We, and many of you, cried to Him, and He delivered us from all our fears. Baruch HaShem
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