Surgery Day

I'm sitting in the lounge area right across from Kevin's door. He is sleeping off and on thanks to the help of some good drugs. I am spending the night at the hospital and have already seen the advantage to Kevin of having someone here just for him. When he wakes a little, he is confused at first and usually needs something adjusted so I'm glad I can be with him.

Surgery was long today. 5 1/2 hours of anxious waiting on my part. Paige, Kate, my sister and my brother-in-law waited with me. They left for a while and returned with Arni's salads and pizza. Being nearby, I am guessing there have been hundreds--probably thousands--of Arni's pizzas and salads consumed in this hospital.

I continue to be struck by the same/different aspect of life--this--cancer, surgery--is all so new, different, unique in our life. Yet, there is such a commonness to it too--so many pizzas eaten by so many people waiting for news in the same rooms in the same hospital.

Back to now the information you want...Kevin did great. He was positive and calm before surgery this morning. It was hard to walk away from him though when the time came for him to be taken back.

I have this image in my mind that as long as I can watch over him, as long as I stay awake and pay attention, nothing bad can happen to him. So waiting in a room that felt miles from him wasn't going to be my strong moment.

About 3 1/2 hours into the afternoon--nearly the time we expected things to be done--I got a call from the anesthesiologist telling me that Dr. Francis couldn't complete it laproscopically so they were proceeding with the full abdominal resection. That was hard to hear. Two hours later, though, Dr. Francis came in and said it had gone well, just a little tight working laproscopically.

No colostomy. YIPPEE! We had convinced ourselves that we could manage that just fine if that's what it had to be, but it's a relief that it was avoided.

Dr. Francis expects Kev to recover well and says if the pathology shows no lymph node involvement things are done. No chemotherapy needed.

THAT is amazing and wonderful news.

Kevin looks great. Really, really amazingly great.

He is in some pain off and on and, thankfully, not very awake for very long at a time. Tomorrow they want to have him up and walking so it may be a long day for him. He won't be able to eat for several days. That should be interesting.

Kate had to leave earlier and we convinced Paige to go on out to the farm to meet Rob and Josh. They are all spending the night at the farm. The others left once Kevin was settled into his room.
I am very appreciative of the people who stayed with me today--there were many others who offered to as well. We are so touched by those offers. Yet it feels good to be alone now. Or as alone as you get on the surgical floor of a hospital. No need to make small talk and time to think about how we got here and where we're going.

I can chat up God quietly now, make a couple of suggestions to Him about what He might want to do about a few things here (think of it as intercessory prayer, if you will), and generally say thanks.