It's over

The surgery was long, but its results held no real surprises and it's over.

During my mom's 3-1/2 to 4 hour surgery yesterday, Dr. C removed the cancer-filled ureter, a small portion of her bladder and the kidney. Apparently, the kidney was "sticky" and hard to remove, therefore it took the doc longer than anticipated because he had to carefully remove it from the adrenal gland. But he saved the gland. The lymph nodes he did see looked fine, but he didn't go rooting around and looking for them because of the length of time she'd been open.

Now it's a matter of lab results indicating whether her cancer is a quick- or slow-moving variety and make decisions (further treatment, chemotherapy, etc.) based on that. Dr. C said his plan would including keeping an eye on the bladder and burning away any new cancer growths. He made it sound fairly easy and managable.

Of course, he's a brilliant surgeon, but not the best communicator. Getting information from him was difficult and drawn-out and we're not exactly sure about next steps. But we needed skillful hands yesterday and that's exactly what we got.

Mom needs to recover. She was incredibly groggy last night when she got to her room in the early evening. But after four hours of anaesthesia, anyone would be groggy!

I'm thankful the surgery is over, the cancer (at least the visible stuff) is out of her and she's on the road to recovery. Thanks to everyone who said a little prayer yesterday for my mom. Our entire family appreciates the support.

Tina