Surgery Day!

 The last few days have been a whirlwind of pre-op appointments. I am finally ready to sit down and update. For those that may not know, surgery day is tomorrow! It is a major surgery. I will be cut from breast bone to public bone. Here are some of the details. First, they will start with a 3 inch cut to insert a camera to get a look. This will let us know if the surgery proceeds. They will be looking to see how much cancer is actually there. The peritoneal metastasis can be under represented on CT scans. If all is well, we are a go!!!! 

Friday I had an appointment with urology. This is because they will be placing stents on my ureters so they don't get damaged during surgery. I made a comment that must have surprised the poor young doctor. He was trying so hard not to laugh. I am kind of glad my morbid sense of humor has returned...not sure others are so thrilled. While on chemo, I was in survival mode and nothing was funny. Those stents will be removed before I get stitched closed. If all goes well, I will never know they were there. 

I also had a CT scan.  I will spare you the details of that. I also made the nurse and the tech laugh. Should I take my bow now? 

Monday was a crazy day. I went to MD Anderson for my 8am appointment with the colorectal surgeon. I was anxious about this one. She is the one that can call the whole thing off. Good news! My CT scans were stable. I have not seen the actual report pop up in MyChart to know the full details. My ctDNA test was also negative. Basically, this doctor will be removing both my ovaries and fallopian tubes. She will also be removing my omentum.  From there,  she will cut out and scrap all of the tumor deposits and cancer cells that she can see. More on that later...

I went to work after this appointment to try and wrap some things up. My next appointment was an online visit with my oncologist. It was a quick visit. I am feeling good since being off of chemo. I asked about the next steps after surgery. I will have scans done one month post surgery. If my scans are clear and my ctDNA is negative, we go into surveillance mode. If my scans are clear and my ctDNA is positive, there is a trial he would like me to do. If both are positive, I will go back to chemo for 3 months and then take a chemo break. All in all, he used the words "happy" and "optimistic." I will take those words! 

I ran back to MD for my final appointment. This is the one I didn't want. It was with the Wound Care Ostomy Clinic. This was a just in case appointment. I have a high tumor burden in my lower pelvic region. The doctor is hopeful she can scrape out the cancer cells. However, if the tumor has grown INTO my colon, then that section will have to be removed. According to the surgeon, this will be a game time call on how to proceed based on what she sees inside. The scraping could go well and there are no issues. There could be damage to my colon or rectum in the process or there could be cancer on the inside. I am praying no issues, but if something arises, I could end up with part of my colon resected...I can live with this, or a bag. I really do not want a bag. I may have broken down at that appointment as the NP was mapping out the spots where it would work. A bag could be temporary or permanent based on where in the colon/rectum has the issue. This doctor actually told me to pray, because God can heal. I went back to work after this appointment and made some inappropriate jokes. 

Of my 4 kids, only Samantha has ever heard me fart...ONCE. I was leaning over playing a game and I sneezed. Out it came.. Well, since an ostomy doesn't have muscle control, farts just come out. Hmmmm..."Beano before, so there will be after." I guess that if needed, I will put that to the test. 

Tuesday, I was bad at MD for 4 more appointments. The first was for labs. Guess what??? Apparently, I have a mild UTI. It is being cultured. I was assured this would not stop surgery. Other than that, my blood work looks good. It has been a while since I have had good. The CEA still hasn't come back, but I don't expect it to show explosive cancer growth. It would not match my ctDNA and scan results if it did. 

Appointment number 2 was for an EKG. It was normal.

The third appointment was the pre-op/anesthesiologist visit. It was easy since I am healthy and active. My activity has increased steadily since being on a chemo pause. 

Finally, I met with the liver surgeon. The procedure and possible complications were explained. No narcotic pain meds after surgery as they will slow healing. The CT showed no growth in  the liver spot. It was still 1.7 cm. She will also use an internal ultrasound on my liver to look for any additional spots. All of that will be scooped out and my gallbladder removed. 

I am supposed to be up and sitting in a chair by the end of the day and walking the halls the following day. 

The expected hospital stay is 1 week. After that I will be home for a while. Y'all....there is only so much Netflix a person can watch! I am going to need things to stimulate my brain...I think. I could be just completely out of it. Who knows. I do plan to schedule a facebook post for my birthday month. That way I am coherent. 

I have been asked over and over again what people can do to help. Honestly, I don't know. Pray. Pray for surgery to go well and for them to get all of the cancer. Pray for there to be no complications. Pray for there to be no need for an ostomy bag, or if there is that it is temporary. This surgery is major and things can still pop up as a complication after I am home. Please pray that away. Pray for my family. Marc is off through Friday. Pray that the recovery goes well. Silly one, but pray for my dog. He sits on the couch and stares out the window all night when I am not home. I think Morganne is talking to Samantha about a Meal Train, but I have no idea how that is going. I am not sure if Samantha is going to go for it, since any meal drop offs would likely need to take place where she works. We just live so far away from everyone. 

For those that may be curious about what I said to the young urologist, here ya go. He was going over all of the possible things that could go wrong. He mentioned that any bladder type issues that I already have could be exasperated. He asked several related questions, one specifically about control. My response was that my control was good given that I gave birth to 4 kids, but you wouldn't catch me jumping on a trampoline.