Surgery day

6:00am - Today's the big day.  Keep your fingers crossed, hope, pray - whatever works!  We need to check in to the hospital at 8:20am, and surgery's scheduled for 10:20am.  I'll be posting updates here.

12:00pm - Surgery start is a little later than expected as my mom just went in.  The surgeon, Dr. N., said they're going in with an open mind to see what they can remove.  Also met with the anesthesiologist, his resident, Dr. N's resident, and one of the nurses who will be there.  The time slot that they have booked for the procedure is three hours.  I'm leaving the hospital for a bit to go outside.  x

1:15pm - I had a healthy lunch (chicken salad with spouts, lettuce, tomato), dropped my stuff off at home, and now I'm off to sit in Edworthy Park.  The weather's beautiful, so it would be a shame to not go outside.  The drive into the city was also really quite spectacular this morning - crips sunrise, fog over the ponds, and some low-hanging clouds adding lots of depth to the mountains.  I'm taking the geology book and camera to kill some time.

3:45pm - It's turning out to be a great day!  Surgery was a success.  The liaison nurse (the nurse who keeps family members updated as one is in the OR) called at 1:45 to say they started late, but things are going 'very well'.  I figured she can't use those words if the info isn't info conveyed from the surgeon.  At 2:52 Dr. N. called me to say they are done and my mom's gone into the recovery room.  They achieved the absolute best we could have hoped for: optimal debulking.  This means that there are no visual remnants of the cancer.  Ironically enough, the 13cm mass on my mom's left ovary was completely benign.  Another mass, 5cm in diameter and on her right ovary, was cancerous and has been sent to the lab.  No lymph nodes had to be taken out and the six more rounds of chemo should hopefully attack that which is not visible to the eye.  She should be in a room where I can see her in about half an hour.

7:00pm - My mom finally got into a room around 5:05.  It was hard for her to just move from the stretcher to the bed and she's incredibly sleepy.  Says she's more tired than one is before going to bed.  She opened her eyes briefly to get me to give her the run-down of what the surgeon said.  They couldn't give her an epidural as her blood counts are too low, so she has a morphine button that she can press to administer 1mg doses, but for which she needs to be awake enough to press that button herself; we aren't allowed to do it for her.  Then there are the inflating bandage things around her legs to prevent blood clots, and likely a lot of stuff around her abdomen (I'm not sure yet and it would be too much effort to lift up the gown right now).  The nursing assistant brought the liquid dinner, but we sent it straight back as she's getting her electrolytes and stuff through IV.  She wouldn't be able to sit up and eat anything today.  I'm home for an hour, then back to the hospital for 8:30.

10:30pm - Last update for the day.  My mom was a bit more awake now, but still says she's more tired than she's ever been.  She showed me the incision and there are big, fat metal staples.  I had to keep myself together to not freak out.  They look like the carpenter variety.  She's also been having fun pressing the morphine button. 

Here are some photos from today:

The spot at Edworthy where I waited during the surgery.

So peaceful yet full of energy with all the kids playing by the water.

My treat for the day: Bolthouse Farms Berry Boost from California.

Healthier than the diet Coke in my Nalgene.  Loaded with antioxidants. 

(Available at Safeway, $2.99 for 450mL).

IV pump loaded with morphine.

Back at Edworthy checking out the River of Light.