Wednesday, August 23, 2017

Well, things didn't go as we were hoping yesterday during the surgery... Apparently the tumor is a couple of smaller tumors that are somewhat imbedded into my abdomen and close to a main artery so the surgeon didn't feel comfortable removing any of it. He took a couple of pieces to biopsy and then closed me up. He was going to talk with my medical oncologist about treatment but he is thinking we need to do some chemotherapy and possibly radiation therapy first to try and shrink things and then go back in and remove what is left. Needless to say I am not too happy with that bit of news.

The surgeon is supposed to come in shortly here and talk to me this morning about our next course of action.

I was in quite a bit of pain after they brought me out of the anesthesia and I remember laying there on the table just moaning because of the pain. After a little bit they were able to get the pain under control and took me to my recovery room where DH was waiting for me. He is the one that broke the news to me and I was quite upset to find out what had happened. The only good news is that I don't have to go home with a catheter in...

Okay, the surgeon just came in as I was sitting here typing. He says the best news is that everything is confined to that one specific area and he is hopeful that because of that, we can successfully attack it and have a positive outcome. He said that the tumors were too close to the main artery in the leg and he and the urology surgeon were not optimistic that they could remove it without causing damage to the artery or nerves of the leg.

Anyway, taking things out of order, I had a rough day yesterday and was quite out of it and wasn't much company for DH and then my parents who came by later. I was able to FaceTime with the kids twice yesterday which I think was good for them. Kitty and Luke had their first day of school. Luke said he was already given a lot of homework on his first day! One of our neighbors took MJ and Kay to the open house for their new elementary school where they were able to meet their teachers and find out a few of the kids in their classes. MJ also had her first soccer practice and luckily her friend across the street from us is on the same team so they were able to give her a ride to the practice. She was pretty excited to talk to me about the practice,

I tried eating some salad last night for dinner but ended up mostly just picking at it and didn't feel like eating much of it. I was super tired and kept zoning out in the afternoon & evening yesterday. And then when the family FaceTimed me, I kept zoning out as well... I slept so so last night. I am in control of the pain medication and have to keep pressing the button to get it administered through my I.V. There are so many lights and noises and interruptions during the night that it is hard to get much sleep. They also have devises on my legs that keep inflating and deflating to help prevent blood clots - also, the bed inflates and deflates in places periodically for the same reason (I believe). Sometimes that is pretty noisy and distracting as well.

This morning they took out my catheter just before 6 a.m. I tried going to the bathroom a little bit after that and was able to get a little bit out. That was my first attempt at walking and I felt okay doing it. After that I asked if I could walk out into the hall for a few minutes so I have my first "walk" out of the way.

Alright, I guess I will sign out for right now. I will try updating again later today - and let me point out that it is hard to type with this oxygen sensor on my right index finger!

4 comments:

  1. Stephanie...you are such a trooper! You have been in our prayers and will continue to be!

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  2. Thanks for the update Steph! So so glad the tumors are localized, and so glad you seem to be in such good hands with your docs. Hugs to all of you!

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  3. Thank you for letting us know how it went. I'm so sorry they couldn't take it all, but it sounds like they have a good plan of attack. Please let us know how things go. You are in our prayers.

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  4. It was so good seeing you the other night at the concert. Hope things are going well. Sure think about you a lot. Loves

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