The Surgery

I went in for my surgery on Wednesday at 1:30pm, packing a bag at the last minute "just in case" I ended up staying overnight. I really didn't have to wait much before they ushered me back to a room and got me ready for surgery. When I woke up from surgery, I could see a clock across the room and noticed that it was 7:45pm. Since my surgery had started around 4, I knew the surgery was much longer that the doctor had anticipated. I was in a lot more pain than I though I would be so I turned to the nurse sitting next to me and asked her what kind of surgery they had done. She was really vague and said that my mom would explain it all to me.

The rolled me up to a room, where my mom was already waiting, and I realized I wouldn't be going home that night. After the nurses left, I turned to my mom and asked her what they did. They were able to remove the 17-18cm mass laproscopically through about a one-inch incision (which in my opinion is quite a feat for my surgeon!). However, the mass came back from the lab as cancerous. So they made a large incision down the center of my abdomen in order to biopsy all the organs for staging. I was in a lot of pain the next day after the surgery, and I was pretty shaken up after seeing 27 staples holding it all together. But each day got better, and I enjoyed having friends come to visit with me. I went home on Saturday and have been feeling so much better! I am able to move around pretty easily with very little pain.

I have a follow-up appointment a week from tomorrow on April 28 to get my staples out and to discuss the next steps. At this point, the doctor has been optimistic that there could be no other treatment depending on the type of cancer and it has not spread. It seems the other possibility would be six months of chemotherapy.

"For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving an example for you to follow in His steps, who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in his mouth; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously; and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed. For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls." - 1 Peter 2: 21-15