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06/11/2007: "So Far So Good!"
A mid-day update from Jeanette -
Rock (AKA Doug) had his first pre-op procedure at 8AM this morning. The procedure was done by a neuro oncologist who was to seek out and cut off flow from the feeders to his tumors in order to limit any bleeding during the following surgery. We both became not just a little nervous about this on the way to the operating room, as the doctor was giving the disclaimers such as possibility of stroke, having to 'take the artery' and such. Even though they stressed very slight chances, Rock and I practically don't listen to statistics anymore (less than 1 in 100,000 girls were diagnosed with autism at the time ours was, and how likely is it that a 45 year old athletic non-smoking wannabe vegetarian with no family history would come down with colon cancer...). He went in at 8, out at 10- with a glowing report from the doctor that all went very well, and even better than expected in some aspects. He was groggy but looking fabulous in his hospital gown, booties and shower cap (if it's not water proof is it a do-rag?).
At 12:30 they carted him in to 'the big one' - if all goes well, it will be a 5-6 hour operation. The surgeon is hoping to complete what he calls a "360" today. If there is too much bleeding or Rock becomes unstable, they will just do the front half today and continue tomorrow AM. This is where we try not to dwell on that recent episode of Grey's anatomy about George O'Malley's dad - the tumor, the cancer - oy!
4PM, and still in the operating room - this is probably good news that they have continued to side 2. I'll keep you posted.
