Surgery day (Wednesday) we got a call at home saying surgery was running ahead of schedule and to come on in. We were on "Dorothy time" and got there at 9:20, got right into pre-op, accessed his port, etc and all that went well. Eric was with us and mom and dad came as well as our friend Jack and Pastor Harry came to pray with us.
Then we went to surgery waiting where they tried to give him an epidural.......yeah, that didn't work! He was sitting up leaning against me and the anesthetist put the numbing med in him and he kind of jerked (which you cannot do!) So he tried putting the needle in and Doug said "I'm getting hot, I'm going to pass out, I'm going to pass out, I'M GOING! At that point he hit the call button and thankfully 2 nurses were there immediately. I had most of the weight at that point so we laid him down and decided.......not going to happen. :) The anesthetist said it happens all the time!
So surgery lasted about 3 1/2 - 4 hours. By 3 I was getting a little nervous I'll have to admit. Our friend Pastor Eddie (used to work with him at FedEx:) stopped by and I just knew when I saw him that the timing was God. Shortly after he got there Dr Treptow came in and gave us the outcome.
The range was marginal for resection but he was able to resect. While testing it for "leakage" with air there was a small leak under pressure. He opted at that time to do an ileostomy (temporary bag) rather than risk the possibility of the surgery site not holding. Also, while he was in there he took samples from around the tumor site (nodes) and had Pathology test them for cancer. And they were NEGATIVE, P.T.L.! He said this morning he also had some samples frozen.....but I'm not sure why. He's supposed to be in later so we will ask him then. Doug also wanted to know if he took pictures (like they do for a colonoscopy) and how big the tumor was. He wants to know if the chemo and radiation shrunk it. Dr Treptow also pulled the NG tube this morning and took the oxygen off. As of right now he just has the pressure cuffs on his calves, catheter and IV.
So last night was a LONG night of trying to stay on top of the pain. We thought he was going to have a pain pump which he didn't. He was prescribed for Dilliden (sp) every hour and another one that starts with a "T" every 6 hours. We had some good nurses, but the hubs can be a bit trying at times. I'm sure he doesn't even know how he sounds :)
We've got a great nurse today, her name is Heather. We just got him up to walk and change the bed. Heather got him a recliner to sit in for a bit. But he puked shortly after sitting down so back to the clean bed he went! He just got more pain meds and is resting now.
Thank you all for your continued prayers. They are definitely needed and felt.
Jan
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