Life in the Circus: July 2009

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Surgery

We arrived at the Huntsman Center at 11:15 by 11:30 we were in a pre-op room. Troy was getting poked and prodded for surgery. By 1:35 we said our goodbyes and the wheeled Troy into the operating room. At 2:30 the OR nurse called the desk in the waiting room to let us ( Troys mom and Dad were there too) know that things were underway.

There were several other families in the waiting room. We made the acquantence of Walenen Flannigan from Montana. Her husband was in surgery for a cancerous jaw. His surgery included grafting of bones and skin to remake the jaw they were removiing. People come from all over the west, to the Huntsman for cancer care. We feel fortunate that it is so close to us.

Every couple of hours the Or nurse would call and give a small update. The operation was supposed to last about 4-6 hours. We were wrong. At one point we hadn't heard from the Or nurse in several hours and were starting to get worried. Everyone else had left the waiting room. We were all alone. No nurses, no volunteers, no one. It felt very odd. Finally we got a call. They had taken his whole stomach and now were going to start working on the esophagus. It had at this point already been 6 hours. They had to go through his side to get to the esophagus. It was the scenario that the surgeon wanted to do.

By going through his side they broke a rib and had to deflate his lung. At about 11:30 the nurse called. They were almostdone. We waited for another hour for the DR to come out. She was positive they got all the cancer. The net day we got to talk to the DR more extensively about what happened in the surgery.

The cancer had gone through the walls of the stomach. They could see it when they first went in. They looked extensively for any matasis any where. They couldn't find any so they proceded with the surgery. The extensive amount of cancer is why the had to take his whole stomach. The good news is the cancer is gone! One more step in our journey is completed.