3 Weeks Post Resection, Lung Update, and Ablation

Tim’s liver surgeon resected about 80% of his liver and removed his gallbladder on Friday, February 2.  It was a long, grueling 10-hour procedure, but a dear group of friends came and spent the day with me and kept me distracted from watching the clock all day. After a long wait in PACU, a bed finally became available in extended PACU that night about 10:00.   The next morning Tim was up walking and we were finally moved to a regular room late Saturday afternoon.  The doctor had prepared us for a 7-10 day stay, but Tim did everything he was told and we broke free on Tuesday morning after only four days.

After returning home, we found that energy and appetite have been almost non existent, but he has pushed through and has been walking almost two miles a day.  He’s returned for two follow up visits and the doctor appears to be astonished at how well he’s recovering.

Last week began what feels like daily trips to the medical center - not really, but it feels that way. On Monday he was scheduled for a CT scan to see how the liver is growing back and to get exact locations of the three remaining tumors in the liver.  On Wednesday, we had a consultation with the lung surgeon. He said, “I see nothing to be concerned about, and don’t take this the wrong way, but I hope I never see you again.”  He reassured us that they would continue to monitor and if anything came up, he would have a plan. Praise God! We needed some good news.

We returned Friday for a pre-op for an ablation if the three remaining tumors.  After the weekend enjoying Cooper’s last basketball game and church on Sunday, we left home early this morning for the 4th time in 7 days to check in for the ablation at 7:00 this morning.  Basically, the radiologist used a CT to guide long probes into the liver and microwaves “burned” or ablated the tumors.  We expected to be in recovery 3 hours post procedure, but Tim’s body did not handle the procedure well. He suffered severe pain and vomiting so the decision was made to admit him. We were moved to a room about 4:00 this afternoon and he’s been resting well. The good news in all of this is that his room is in a newer part of the building and much more comfortable than any of the others we’ve been in.

Next steps:
1. Plans are to be discharged tomorrow
2. Appointment with medical oncologist next week - praying we find out what the next treatment protocol entails and a timeline for that.
3. Appointment with colorectal surgeon early April and praying we get a timeline to get the rest of the cancer out of his body.

We’ve been fighting this 5 months and things have gone much better than we could have ever imagined.  Continue to pray for Tim’s recovery and health and for the kids as they are shuffled around on any given day.  We know many others are facing a much worse prognosis and we are not taking anything we are facing for granted.