Lauri and I spent this morning at MD Anderson meeting with our Surgeon (again). We have set a date of December 11, 2008 as the day of surgery. Our Surgeon will run another CT Scan on December 9 just to be sure there are no other spots of interest, and to confirm the location of the spot he is already targeting. On December 10, Lauri will have her Anesthesia Consultation, which is standard procedure before surgery - just a review of what to expect with the anesthetic. We moved the surgery up to December due to personal schedules on our side, not due to a change in urgency by the MD Anderson team.
Our Surgeon says to expect another 3-5 day hospital stay (yay, memories!). The procedure will be the same as before. Based on the location of the spot, he says the surgery should be straight forward with the spot easy to get to for him. In fact, our Surgeon will use the same incision line for this surgery as was used before, meaning no new scars (gill lines) on Lauri's back. He will also try to use the same incisions for the drain tubes as well. Lauri thinks this is all really great. Me? I think getting some extra gill lines would be pretty cool, especially at the next swim party... Now if we can just get Lauri to swim like Phelps... Seriously, though, it is really a wonder at how good our Surgeon is - and how considerate he is to making the incisions the least invasive and visible as he can.
Our Surgeon says it is a good sign that only one spot has shown up over the past year. He says the goal of the surgeries are to remove all of the "seeds" of cancer. With only one spot showing up after the last two surgeries, this can be a positive indication that we are making headway in removing all the "seeds". While there will always be a chance for it to return, we hope and pray he is right - that these surgeries bring us closer to being cancer free forever.
3 comments:
Thanks for such informative updates, Jeff. So many prayers are being offered for you both from people that know you and those who have never even met you. The power of prayer is awesome. Keep your spirits up! Mama
I have been keeping close tabs on you guys by following the blog. Have you folks in my thoughts and prayers for successful surgery, also for a loooong and fruitful life ahead together. Let me know what I can do to help. BONES
Thank you for the update because after I received an email from Ellen with the new surgery date I was worried that something had changed to make the surgery a higher priority. I have once again sent out a message to all of our prayer groups to keep you in their prayers. We will be praying for a speedy and complete recovery and hope to see you at Christmas. Aunt Linda
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