August 3rd, 2011 Surgery

"I will not despair, for God is always good" Psalm 27:10

Today has been a long day for mom in surgery.
She was really sick all day yesterday and nauseous throughout the night.
We had to be here by 6:30 AM,she was taken back at 7:00.

They got the iv in on the first try. (a major victory as this is a multiple try ordeal every time) Dad stayed with her during her consultation with the anesthesiologist and surgeons.

They told mom and dad that there was a possibility they would not even address the right kidney today if the surgery was too long and would cause too much stress for her. The kidney surgeon said that they could address the kidney at a later time either laproscopicly, or with a cryo treatment or inject chemo. In any event it is less worrisome than the large mass so they needed to make sure we understood that they would address it later if today's surgery was too extensive and they needed to spend the majority of the time on the pancreas / stomach area.

We got calls every two hours to update us from the OR. The end result is this:
They took the lower half of the pancreas,they took the spleen,there was stomach involvement so they took a section of the stomach as well. The thing we were not expecting was that they also had to take part of her colon. The mass was really invasive and they had to take particular care in dissecting around blood vessels to not interrupt circulation. This was tedious and took the most time. Since it was all on the left side and it took so long in that area they elected to not cause trauma to the opposite side as well.

She has a tube in her side draining fluids. The surgeon says this is his main concern. Tissue has to be sewn together and may leak. There was so much done that now it can be leakage from the pancreas, stomach or colon. Please pray for healing of the areas. Please pray that all cancer on a cellular level will disappear.

She has a tune down her nose that bypasses her stomach and goes into her intestine. She will be given some nutrition through it later if she is doing well.

She has an epidural to help manage her post operative pain. Please pray that she has relief from pain and is able to rest comfortably. She has degenerative discs in her neck and laying in bed can be miserable. This is an area that would be merciful for her to have relief so I am going to ask specificly for prayer over her in this as well.

She had an excellent surgical team, she did not need any transfusions and her vital signs were good throughout surgery.

Our prayer now is for her blood pressure. She is in recovery but her BP has tanked and they are working on getting it back up to an acceptable level. This is normal for mom as she has done this after every other surgery she has had, but it still needs to get turned around soon.

Please feel free to leave comments for her here. When she is awake and out of pain we will be reading them to her.

We have truly felt your love and prayers during this incredibly long day. We have had peace even in the midst of anxiety. For that we are grateful.

We appreciate and love you.
With a grateful heart,

Kimberly and family