Successful surgery yesterday!

Dave had his THE at Hopkins yesterday with Dr.Yang. What was supposed to be a relatively straight forward procedure was fraught with complications, and was 9 hours long, but in the end successful.

First problem, the stomach was not a good candidate to fashion the new esophagus out of. It did not have good blood flow, so Dr. Yang quickly took that down. On to plan B. Let's use the colon. Well... that didn't work either. Of course using the colon meant that 2 other surgeons joined the case and worked to free the colon for Dr. Yang to use. So in essence we've got colon surgery going on in addition to the THE! They harvested alot of the colon, so took another section, which ultimately worked.

To make a very long story short he is now doing great! Doctors are thrilled with his progress. In ICU but hope to go to a private room tomorrow. He is in a fair amount of discomfort, but managing that with an epidural and IV meds. We're told the first day is the worst.

If anyone is looking for a recommendation for a surgeon and hospital, we have nothing but superlatives for Dr. Steven Yang and Hopkins in Baltimore. If you have any questions I'd be glad to help!

Sandy