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06/13/2007: "Out of ICU"
Rock/Doug was moved out of ICU yesterday afternoon after the thumbs up from his surgeon. He will be at Eden (room 6202) at least through tonight (Wednesday). The surgeon said the surgery went extremely well - he removed a very large tumor from the front of the damaged area in addition to replacing the vertebrae. Blood loss was a huge concern, as tumors tend to feed off of blood vessels, therefore they continuously bleed if disturbed. The surgeon wouldn't have been able to apply pressure on the tumor to limit bleeding because it was on the spine - he would have had to work around the bleeding, possibly needing transfusions. Thanks to Dr. Noharu, who did that AM procedure to stop blood flow from the vessels before the surgery, there was less than a quarter cup of blood loss!
Rock is in good spirits, although a little groggy from the pain medication. He sat up yesterday and is scheduled to begin some physical therapy today (he is NOT looking forward to that - his neck is in a lot of pain, especially when he moves). His vocal chords aren't completely normal yet, as they had to move them aside for the operation - he is a little hoarse but able to speak. He needs to be able to do an alto-soprano note before leaving.
That's the news! Hopefully he'll be back in his own bed before the end of the week.
