And, here we go!

Surgery day is finally here.  At 6am central time on 5/30, we arrive at the hospital and, at 8am central, surgery is supposed to start.  Surgery will be long but I can't imagine it taking less than about 8 hours but could be as long as 15 hours.

We spent most of 5/29 at the hospital, talking to Dr. Boudreaux, meeting other staff including the anesthesiologist and getting labs drawn.  Dr. Boudreaux filled us in a bit more on what to expect as well as cautioned against what he doesn't know yet.

The number 1 goal of the surgery is to relieve the obstruction.  From the scans, it looks like this should be a doable procedure but you never really know until you get inside the body and start examining things directly.  The obstruction could be due to adhesions (scar tissue), tumor, reduced blood flow, or any combination of these.  Dr. Boudreaux believes it is the latter two and hopes that he will be able to rescue as much bowel as possible.  The one specter he raised was the possibility of having to take so much bowel that I am on TPN for life.  Hopefully it does not come to that but at least I would still be able to eat, just not receive any nutrition from the food I consume...

The number two goal is the removal of the tumor constricting the ureter of my right kidney.  He will have stents inserted into both ureters so that he can service both ureters if necessary but the scans seem to imply only the one has a problem.  The stents are also lit!  This means that he will be able to actually see the stent and know exactly where the ureter lies rather than just going by feel.  Kinda cool!

The third goal is then to address tumors in the liver if he has time.  It is likely he will try to cut out the biggest tumors where he sees them and this should reduce the amount of carcinoid syndrome that I experience.  At the same time, he will be taking my gall bladder which often gets plugged with sludge from the Sandostatin I am given on a regular basis.

Thoughts, prayers, and emails are appreciated but, throughout and after surgery, I am not the one most in need of the support at this time.

The person now in need of most support is my wife Stephanie.  She has a caring bridge site where she will be updating what is going on with the surgery and my recovery but is also where you can leave her some encouraging words.  You can also reach Stephanie on facebook or through email (steph at vaniwaarden dot org).

Recovery for me is just a matter of laying in bed, dealing with the pain and waiting for my bowels to wake up.  I will be in the ICU for the first two days or so and we don't know if Stephanie will be able to spend the night there or not. Whether she sleeps in the ICU or at the hope lodge, sleep will not come easy for her.  We have a large support group of friends but none of them will be in New Orleans so things are going to be tough for Stephanie.

Thanks for all the good wishes that have been sent our way over the last two months of this ordeal but please give Stephanie as much love and support as you can over these next two weeks!