Two Weeks To Go Until The Next Surgery

Well, I have two weeks until my next surgery. We’re praying that it will also be my last surgery as far as this cancer goes. Right now I don’t know if I am more excited about getting this over and done with or nervous about having to go through another surgery and another hospital stay.

People keep asking why I have to go through another surgery. The reason is two-fold. The first reason is it will be an exploratory surgery. There are two possibilities here. One, Dr. Sugerbaker will find no tumors. That means that the surgery will be relatively short, no chemo will be involved and I should only have to stay in the hospital for about a week or so. If tumor is found, it will have to be removed, and chemo will be used again during the surgery. That will mean another hospital stay of 3 weeks or so. We’re praying that nothing will be found.

The second reason for the surgery is to reverse the ileostomy, or as some like to say, “reconnect the plumbing.” This is what I am most excited about. I have had the ileostomy since my emergency surgery in Oct of 2003. While I have learned to live with it, and have found I can still live a somewhat normal live, I will still be glad to get rid of it.

The surgery will be done in Washington DC and will take place on July 6th. At first we were told we will need to be there on July 3rd for pre-admission testing. We were told the 3rd, because the hospital will be closed for testing on July 5th due to the July 4th weekend. When I called Ilsa (the office manager and Dr. Sugarbaker’s wife) she said that I could have the testing done here in NY, which meant that we won’t have to be there until July 5th.

So, on June 28th I will be going to my oncologist for an EKG and blood tests. Then on June 30th, I will be going to East River Imaging to have another CT scan.

For those praying, here are the requests:

1) The pre-admission testing will go well
2) No tumors will be found during the surgery
3) The ileostomy will be reversed with no problem
4) The hospital stay will be short and the recovery will go smoothly

We will try to update the blog before the surgery, and as often as possible during the hospital stay and recovery.

Thank you all for prayers and concerns.

Kevin