30 September 2009

Update On Mom

Mom's surgery went textbook quality well yesterday. What was estimated at a two to four hour (surgeon originally told us four minimum), ended up at just over an hour. The lesions (tumor) were not attached to the vena cava... they just sort of suctioned away. There was minimal bleeding for a surgery like this.

She looked pretty good after surgery except for the swollen lip and rash. They weren't sure, as of my last update, what caused the rash. It could still be a reaction to chemo or to the drugs she had to take for the infection she got from chemo.

The big concern now, especially with this being a lung surgery, is that she cough the fluids out to prevent pneumonia. The surgeon went in between two of her ribs to get to the lung, so she has the pain of those shifting combined with the muscle separation and cutting to contend with. They've inserted an epidural catheter into her upper back to try to help keep the pain very low so she can cough.

I called this morning. I was only able to talk to her nurse because his phone wasn't cordless. He said he overheard her surgeon telling her that she can move out of ICU this morning. I know she'll be pushing herself to recover just to get the heck out of the hospital.

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