Surgery Was A Success

Hello everyone,

Surgery took place on September 18th as planned.  The surgery started on time at 8am and the surgeon came out to talk to Scott around 5pm.  Must have been a long day for everyone expect me, pretty sure I slept through everything.

In the end the surgeon was able to remove the veins twisted by the tumours and resect them.  There was no need to remove any of the pancreas or resect any of the bowel.  The tumour beside the artery was removed and the artery was not compromised.

The original planned time in hospital was 14 days but I was released after 9.  I had no major complications but a small skin infection was cleared up with antibiotics.  This is a first for me!

Scott and I returned to Toronto last Thursday to have my staples removed and a follow up with the surgeon.  The removal of the staples was a lot less painful than I had anticipated.  The great part of the appointment was the pathology report.  All outer edges of tissue where the tumours were removed tested negative for cancer cells.  They also took six lymph nodes from the area and they all tested negative as well.  This is the best possible outcome, very comforting.  The doctor told me I have about another three weeks to go before I don't feel like anyone touched me.  Recovery is going well but not as fast as I would like.....I'm not exactly patient!

The surgeon was unable to repair my hernia.  Once he got in there he realized it was much larger than he originally thought.  He did not want to risk any complications with the hernia repair affecting the main surgery.  He suggests that I take care of this but it is not on the top of my list right now.

I will see my Oncologist in a week and my assumption is I will do about six weeks of chemo but that needs to be confirmed still.

In so many ways I am the luckiest gal around.  The support and love from my family and friends has kept me going this far.  I always know anyone will help when needed and love is always there.

I will be in touch soon and hope to be back in the fast lane in a few weeks.

Love to all,
Karen