Lisa's Surgery Went Well...

Fitlisa
Fitlisa Member Posts: 99
edited March 2014 in Colorectal Cancer #1
Hi All,

I'm Simon - Lisa's husband, and I wanted to give you an update on her cytoreduction surgery yesterday and how she's doing post-surgery...

This is a bit detailed, but as Lisa knows, I have the incredible ability to turn a short story into a very long one... :o)
Lisa's surgery began at 8:20AM yesterday and was finished at around 4:15 (quite a bit shorter than the 12-14 hours we've read and heard about for this surgery).

The surgeon, Dr. Lowy, told me the surgery went as well as they could possibly have expected, and that he was actually a little suprised when he got in there that the disease hadn't progressed nearly as much as he thought it might have (some VERY comforting words, indeed). They removed her ovaries, her gall bladder, did a small resection of her diaphragm, as they couldn't easily remove the tumor located there. He also found some tumor on her appendix, and was not able to simply peel it off as he could most of the other tumor he found, and the tumor stopped at a point they usually use as a marker to cut out the appendix, so he decided to resection the small area of colon that the appendix is part of to make sure to get all of the tumor (about six inches of her colon was removed with the appendix). The only other significant (more than a mm or two) area of tumor was on the surface of her liver, which they were able to easily remove. The rest of the tumors were tiny (1-2mm) "pimple" like tumors, and mostly confined to the peritoneum itself. The peritoneum in these areas was simply peeled away, and any residual tumor lasered off.
GOOD NEWS***** None of the tumor material had actually grown INTO the tissue of any of the organs it was found on - surface tumor only (the appendix and diaphragm tumor was adhered very strongly to the surface of these organs, requring the resections of these two areas I discussed earlier - the tumor had NOT grown into these two organs, either).

They did the perfusion (pouring the heated chemo into her abdominal cavity) and left it in for 90 minutes. Other than closing her up, this was pretty much the conclusion of the operation.

She is in SICU (Surgical Intensive Care Unit) and doing well, except for getting a handle on the pain itself. Her vitals are all good and normal for this type of surgery, and she is talking just a bit (usually limited to whispering "mother****!!! as she's trying to re-position herself in the bed.)

They bumped up her dilaudid for her pain, in an effort to finally put a dent in it. I saw her this AM for a couple of hours (I'm a computer tech at the hospital she's at, so they're letting me see her pretty much whenever I like and for as long as I like, which is a Godsend), and they gave her a little boost on her Dilaudid before I left. Her nurse called me a bit ago and said she's a bit better ref the pain, and put Lisa on the phone. She was much more talkative than just a few hours earlier, so she is feeling better. LOTS of pain, though...tough to get a handle on, but they're doing their best.

I'll get back to you later today or tomorrow with another update. And I want to thank each an every one of you for your support, encouragement, prayers, and especially the strength your messages give Lisa and I - THAT is immeasurable, and probably the biggest gift of all (but keep the prayers up just the same! :o)

Bye for now and take care of yourselves, and each other...

Simon

Comments

  • alihamilton
    alihamilton Member Posts: 347 Member
    Hi Simon, thanks so much for letting us all know how Lisa is doing and it does seem the op went better than expected and that things were not quite as bad as had been expected. Let us hope she will be out of pain soon and ready to come home. Please give her our love and look after yourself too. I will be checking for further updates.

    Ali
  • scouty
    scouty Member Posts: 1,965 Member
    Simon,

    THANK YOU SO MUCH. Lisa has been on our minds constantly the last 36 hours and we will continue with our prayers.

    Please tell her we are with her and so happy for her too. If you need to make her smile, just tell her 2 words....speedos and thongs..... She will understand.

    Please post again and let us know how miracle girl is doing!!!!

    Lisa P.
  • jana11
    jana11 Member Posts: 705
    Simon, thank you for the update. Sounds as though things went very well. We will keep both you and Lisa in our thoughts.
    Glad to hear your work is being so supportive, makes such a difference!
    Be well. jana
  • andreae
    andreae Member Posts: 236
    Dear Simon,

    Thank you so much for posting!!! Lisa has been on my mind and I am so very happy things went well. Tell them not to be shy with the meds.... Morphine, oxycodon, anti-inflammatories, whatever she needs.

    All my love to you & Lisa,
    Andrea
  • taraHK
    taraHK Member Posts: 1,952 Member
    Thank you so much for posting this update. Delighted with the positive news from the surgeon - that is great. Please pass on our love and best wishes.
    Tara
  • Thank you so much for posting the update on Lisa. While I myself have been absent for a while from the board, I am catching up on things and have read several past posts on Lisa. One tough lady and I am so happy to hear that things went well. I will keep her in my prayers.

    Monika
  • kangatoo
    kangatoo Member Posts: 2,105 Member
    unknown said:

    Thank you so much for posting the update on Lisa. While I myself have been absent for a while from the board, I am catching up on things and have read several past posts on Lisa. One tough lady and I am so happy to hear that things went well. I will keep her in my prayers.

    Monika

    Hiya Simon. Give Lisa a big hugg from kanga and Jen in Australia please----not too hard now--don't wanna break her!!!
    Oh---btw----you could do me (Ross) a big favour too.
    While you are wispering "sweet nothings" in her ear tell her this;
    "Lisa, sweetie, close your eyes and imagine a RAINBOW"-------she will understand!
    lots of luv n huggs--thanks for keeping us UTD, kanga n Jen
  • goldfinch
    goldfinch Member Posts: 735
    Thank you Simon. You and Lisa will continue to be in my prayers. Here's to continued "good news" updates.
    Mary
  • taunya
    taunya Member Posts: 390 Member
    Hello Simon,
    I am so glad you took the time to give us this report. Thank goodness the surgery went well. Good news indeed. I hope you are holding up as well as Lisa, I know this is a difficult time for you both. Hang in there and take good care of Lisa and yourself!!! I will check back for your up-dates and pray a ton.
    Love and Hugs,
    Taunya
  • Btrcup
    Btrcup Member Posts: 286
    Hi Simon, so glad Lisa' surgery went well. My husband Scott may be getting the same surgery end of Feb, begin of March. Hope her recovery goes well too!

    Linda (Baltimore)
  • jsabol
    jsabol Member Posts: 1,145 Member
    Hi Simon,
    Many thanks for the update and good news. Here's hoping these first few days go by quickly for Lisa....and the healing progresses quickly too.
    Hang in there; (gentle hug) for Lisa, and remember to take care of yourself, too. Judy
  • fedester
    fedester Member Posts: 753 Member
    hi simon,
    great to hear lisa did well with surgery.
    hope recover is fast.
    all the best
    bruce
  • 2bhealed
    2bhealed Member Posts: 2,064 Member
    scouty said:

    Simon,

    THANK YOU SO MUCH. Lisa has been on our minds constantly the last 36 hours and we will continue with our prayers.

    Please tell her we are with her and so happy for her too. If you need to make her smile, just tell her 2 words....speedos and thongs..... She will understand.

    Please post again and let us know how miracle girl is doing!!!!

    Lisa P.

    scouty......you'll make her laugh and then it will hurt and she'll be cursing you a few more mother******* trying to hold her gut!! You made me laugh and started a coughing jag (I have the flu dang it) .

    haha

    SIMON! thank you for updating us on Lisa's condition. Praise God she came through it and it wasn't as bad as he thought it was going to be. We'll take that!!

    I will continue to pray for her pain level--that it will be alleviated.

    Keep the info coming as you know it.

    peace, emily who is thankful
  • Kanort
    Kanort Member Posts: 1,272 Member
    Hi Simon,

    Thank you for the medical update on Lisa's surgery. I'm so happy that things went so well, and I hope that her pain is under control by now.

    Let her know that the we continue to think of and pray for her. May she have a complete and quick recovery,

    Take care,

    Kay
  • littlejulie
    littlejulie Member Posts: 311
    Thanks for the update. Send her our best :)