As expected, Nancy is still in the ICU this morning. When we arrived she was sitting up in a chair. She looked great. She looked "puffy" from all of the fluids that they administered during surgery. This is normal. She'd been visited by Dr. Billingsley this morning before I arrived with Dorothy and Leonard. He explained why he removed more of her liver. Evidently, the liver is composed of multiple sectors. The tumor, in one segment was very close to another segment; close enough so that he felt compelled to remove the additional segment for safety reasons. The liver should regenerate in 30 days.
She is doing very well and should be ready to walk this afternoon for the first time since surgery. The pain management using the epidural is working great! Her mind is clear and the pain is tolerable. She has some referred pain in her right shoulder-that is normal.
After the morning visit Dorothy and Leonard left to return to Eugene. They will be picking up Beau from my Mom. They still expect her to be in the hospital for 5 days-day one being today.
Love and Peace to you all,
Franz
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Nancy's in the ICU
At about 5 pm Nancy was transferred to the 8th floor ICU. They allowed all three of us to go in and see her for the first time since this morning. We walked in and she gave us a big smile. She looked great, a little pale, a little blood on her nose and lips, but she looked great. She told us that Dr. Billingsley had already come to see her twice. As I said earlier her Dr. told us that she didn't need the ICU, but that it is protocol for a surgery of this type.
She told me that I should take Dorothy and Leonard and go back to the hotel soon. She wanted me to get a good night's sleep and that she wanted her parents to rest after such a long day at the hospital. Here she is, having undergone a brutal bowel prep the night before, had an epidural placed, gone through 5 solid hours of surgery, had half of her liver removed and she's worried about me and her Mom and Dad. This is just a glimpse of what this woman is all about. I am fortunate to know this wonderful person!
The plan for tomorrow is to wait until after 8 AM to see Nancy (shift change is between 7-8). Dorothy and Leonard will visit through the morning and then head back to Eugene. I will stay here with Nancy until she is discharged.
I will post as news is created.
Love and Peace to all of you,
Franz
She told me that I should take Dorothy and Leonard and go back to the hotel soon. She wanted me to get a good night's sleep and that she wanted her parents to rest after such a long day at the hospital. Here she is, having undergone a brutal bowel prep the night before, had an epidural placed, gone through 5 solid hours of surgery, had half of her liver removed and she's worried about me and her Mom and Dad. This is just a glimpse of what this woman is all about. I am fortunate to know this wonderful person!
The plan for tomorrow is to wait until after 8 AM to see Nancy (shift change is between 7-8). Dorothy and Leonard will visit through the morning and then head back to Eugene. I will stay here with Nancy until she is discharged.
I will post as news is created.
Love and Peace to all of you,
Franz
At 2:30 Dr. Billingsley came to talk to us in the OR waiting room. Nancy is awake and OK! in recovery. Surgery went perfectly. No other cancer was found inside or in the immediate vicinity of the liver. He removed the right half of the liver, more than the 20% he thought he might have to take. He said that he wanted to be absolutely certain that he had clear margins. The liver will regenerate approximately back to its original size. He felt that she would be back to close to full strength in about a month. He said repeatedly that Nancy's general health and fitness played an important role in this surgery. Hooray Nancy!
She will be in recovery for at least another 1.5 hr and then she will be going to the ICU for at least overnight. He doesn't feel that she necessarily needs the ICU, but that it is protocol for this surgery.
They are close to full capacity here and there is a chance that she could be in the ICU for the entire hospitalization (~5 days).
This news brought tears of joy to Leonard and Dorothy. I am so relieved that I can't begin to describe that feeling.
Finally......Good news!!!!
Love and Peace to all of you,
Franz
She will be in recovery for at least another 1.5 hr and then she will be going to the ICU for at least overnight. He doesn't feel that she necessarily needs the ICU, but that it is protocol for this surgery.
They are close to full capacity here and there is a chance that she could be in the ICU for the entire hospitalization (~5 days).
This news brought tears of joy to Leonard and Dorothy. I am so relieved that I can't begin to describe that feeling.
Finally......Good news!!!!
Love and Peace to all of you,
Franz
Surgery Progress
Just got a call from the OR at 12:10 (PT). Nancy is stable and all is going well-surgery continues. They would not give me estimated time of completion-I'm trying to not read anything into that. With what we've been through...my mind tends to play nasty "what if" games with me.
So, Nancy's parents, Dorothy and Leonard, continue to bide our time.
Love and Peace to you all.
So, Nancy's parents, Dorothy and Leonard, continue to bide our time.
Love and Peace to you all.
Here at OHSU, the morning of the surgery
We were to check in to surgery admitting at 6 AM. Morning report said roads were icy, but we had no problem getting here in time. I gave Nancy the Bavarian wood carving of Mary and the baby Jesus that my mom gave me to give to Nancy. The carving was blessed by a priest in Bavaria. Mom, Nancy was very moved by it-thank you.
They are very compassionate, efficient and professional here at OHSU. Some of the anesthesia prep was unexpected. Nancy will be having a general anesthesia. In addition to that they placed an epidural at T8-T9. The epidural will be used post-op to control her pain instead of administering IV pain meds. They have found this to be a very effective way of controlling post-op pain. She also will have a central line in place to be used for monitoring, etc. The greatest potential problem with this type of surgery is bleeding. Out of control bleeding doesn't happen very often here, but they have set up means to address this problem if it should happen. I feel very confident in this team.
Kevin Billingsley, the lead surgeon, stopped by and told us that he had no anxiety about this surgery and that he expects it to go well. They have scheduled 4.5 hrs of OR time for it.
You can tell that its a teaching hospital...a dozen staff had contacat with Nancy here in preop; there will be an attending, resident and student anesthesiologist in the OR. There will be the lead and resident surgeon, students and multiple nurses. Probably about 10 people besides Nancy in the OR.
She was wheeled into the OR by the anesthesiologists at 7:45 and we don't expect to be notified that surgery is over until after 12:30 (PT) sometime.
Just got the first call from the OR about 15 min ago. Nancy is stable and surgery has started. I will post further when I get news.
Love and peace to all of you,
Franz
They are very compassionate, efficient and professional here at OHSU. Some of the anesthesia prep was unexpected. Nancy will be having a general anesthesia. In addition to that they placed an epidural at T8-T9. The epidural will be used post-op to control her pain instead of administering IV pain meds. They have found this to be a very effective way of controlling post-op pain. She also will have a central line in place to be used for monitoring, etc. The greatest potential problem with this type of surgery is bleeding. Out of control bleeding doesn't happen very often here, but they have set up means to address this problem if it should happen. I feel very confident in this team.
Kevin Billingsley, the lead surgeon, stopped by and told us that he had no anxiety about this surgery and that he expects it to go well. They have scheduled 4.5 hrs of OR time for it.
You can tell that its a teaching hospital...a dozen staff had contacat with Nancy here in preop; there will be an attending, resident and student anesthesiologist in the OR. There will be the lead and resident surgeon, students and multiple nurses. Probably about 10 people besides Nancy in the OR.
She was wheeled into the OR by the anesthesiologists at 7:45 and we don't expect to be notified that surgery is over until after 12:30 (PT) sometime.
Just got the first call from the OR about 15 min ago. Nancy is stable and surgery has started. I will post further when I get news.
Love and peace to all of you,
Franz
Monday, January 14, 2008
Nancy and I caravaned with her parents up to Portland today. We came up a day before the surgery because Nancy needs to prep. for the surgery. She need to report to the surgery department at 6AM tomorrow morning. Sounds early, but in the world of surgery, the earlier, the better (fresh surgeon, less pressured by the schedule). My motel room has internet so that I will be able to report what is going on. Send love and good energy tomorrow from 7AM (PT) thru the day. Thank you all for the support; it means a lot to us.
Who's taking care of the Beau dog? Oma is-thanks, Mom.
Love and peace to all of you,
Franz
Who's taking care of the Beau dog? Oma is-thanks, Mom.
Love and peace to all of you,
Franz
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
1.2.08-Stagnation
Just wanted to let everybody know that we haven't forgotten about the blog. We're at Sunriver and we're just chilling. Expect the blog to get going again around the tenth or so. Thanks for reading, and keep the comments coming!
Peter
Peter
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