Surgery went well

Kevin's surgery lasted about six and a half hours. At the end of it, Dr. Sugarbaker said he was very happy with what he saw (& didn't see!) and with how well the procedure went. He's giving Kevin a good prognosis. As I'm writing this, Kevin is in the Anesthesia Recovery Unit.

Findings & procedures of today's surgery:
1. The "cyst" that showed up on the CT scan turned out to be nothing more than some lymphatic fluid that had collected due to missing lympnodes (taken out in last surgery) plus blockage from some scar tissue that had built up over the mesh left from hernia repair (7 years ago).

2. There was some recurrence of disease--mucus as well as cells the "shouldn't be there"--all confined to the left side of the abdomen. We'll know better what we're dealing with in about a week when the biopsy report comes back. However, the very good news is that the initial pathology tests done during surgery indicate that there are no signet ring cells* present
*the very aggressive nasty cancer that was present in October

3. The ostomy repair went beautifully! Can't wait to tell Kevin.

4. The spleen is still healthy and stayed put! Dr. S. felt that the scalloping was from previous mild pancreatitis.

5. The were lots of adhessions; most of the time spent in surgery was spent of cleaning those up. Dr. S. felt that there will likely be no long term complications from adhesions.

6. A small portion of the bowel had to be removed (because of adhesions), but Dr. S. said the amount is insignificant, and Kevin "will never miss it."

7. They did administer chemo during the surgery, but not the very potent melphalin Kevin had last time. The did the chemo stir for 60 mins. instead of the usual 90 becuase Dr. S. felt confident that 60 mins. was sufficient. They will not be doing follow up chemo washes--Dr. S. just doen't feel it's needed.

8. Hospital stay is expected to be 2 weeks (maybe less). Kevin lost very litttle blood, his vitals have been good, he's been stable. Unless anything changes, he will go straight from the Anesthesia Unit to his room sometime tonight, by-passing ICU.

Dr. Sugarbaker is happy, and therefore I am very happy.

There was a nerve-wracking period while we waited for the results of the pathology report to know whether some hard decissions about administering very potent chemo might have to be made, but thankfully, it turned out to be a non-issue. Never-the-less, I was very grateful to have my parents here with me as well as to be able to talk to and pray with my rabbi over the phone. It was also a comfort to know how many people said they would be praying... thank you!

Okay. Sleep for me! More later.

Love,

a grateful and exhausted Roni