December 23, 22011

    Well, we learned one thing, an OR minute is equivalent to 2-3 hours. We went in at 11:30 for the scheduled appointment, Sara went in at 4:20.  They were very thorough, each person that came in asked the same questions 10 times. 
     We all took turns staying with Sara until she was wheeled away in a dramatic moment to the OR.  Then we waited.  The surgery took 5 hours.  Then an hour in recovery.  By  then we had eaten all of Chelsea's cookies and had passed them around to all the 'waiters'. {Thanks Chels!} Finally, Dr. Park came out with a big smile on his face and told us everything went even better than expected.  Her liver was clear and anything left on it was probably scar tissue and there was no reason to even touch it, which was very good as the liver can present all kinds of compications.  The big tumor was alive and well, feeding off a giant vein that provided it with a nice blood flow.  Also, to back up, they gave her the octreotide shot before the surgery to basically 'drug' the tumor.  Kind of like smoking a bee hive so they don't get mean when you disturb them.  Then, he took off the major portion of the tumor on the pancreas, having to cut through the vein which he cut and repaired twice during the procedure.  They could then see the tumor was encapsulated, which is the MO of the neuroendocrine tumor, so they just scooped it up and that was it.  The surgery was done by a robot, didn't catch his name, {who was that masked man?} and required 5 small incisions.  {That if connected form a happy face flipping the bird}  Sara was sent to a regular room to recover.  Actually, it is the same floor she was on before so we knew some of the people and of course they remembered Sara.  Trevor stayed with her the first night, Sarah Hess stays tonite, then me till she no longer requires someone there overnight and/or she gets released.  Then, Dr. Park wants her near to monitor her for a week, so she will stay with Shanna.
    Dr. Park expects her to make a fast recovery since the surgery was not so invasive. As of this morning, she is awake and walked a little.  She is tired, but happy.  We are all super excited and so thrilled.
    One resident came in and told us he was so impressed with Sara's whole story, he had stayed up late to read her whole chart.  He said her progress was remarkable.  I am writing this because we all truly believe the prayers, energy, good vibes, call it what you may, was an integral part of her AMAZING recovery.  Thank-you is just two little words, but the gratefullness behind those two words is huge and cannot be measured. 
    Love to All!   Merry Christmas and here is to a fantastic new year.


posted by Colleen, a very happy mom