It's been a day of roller coasters. We've been up and down all day. Joe came through the surgery extremely well. He did not require a blood transfusion and had no complications. For these reasons the surgeon was able to complete the surgery in 12 hours. It's good to know Joe still moves quickly even under anesthesia. They removed the gallbladder, the appendix, 100 cm. of the small bowel, the right colon, the stomach lining and tumors from the liver. They were able to keep the spleen, and the rectum. The good news is that it did not affect the pancreas, stomach, or the prostate. After the surgical part, they performed the three hour hot chemo treatment as originally planned.
The doctor spent a good deal of time with us explaining what he saw and what was next. Honestly, it came as a bit of a shock so I'm not sure we can re-cap it as he explained it. He told us that the 1st thing he did was measure his "cancer level". This is a measurement to determine if he could proceed with the surgery. Joe's "Sugar Baker Index" was 21. The cutoff for doing the surgery is 23. With that, he almost did not do the surgery, but stated he knew he could help Joe. The surgery was focused on his quality of life - not total cancer removal. Dr. Ong reminded us that Joe is stage IV and has numerous tumors. So many that if he tried to remove them all, Joe would have NO quality of life. So he tried to find that perfect balance of what he could remove and still give Joe a quality life. As a result, he will not need a colostomy bag and should have a pretty quick recovery process considering how intense the surgery was. However, Dr. Ong explained that he could not remove all the cancer. Although he was able to take out a lot of the tumors, he could not remove them all. Joe still has quite a battle ahead of him.
The next step is getting Joe healed from the surgery. We will then need to talk to the oncologist about continuing chemotherapy and what our next steps will be. This will be a joint effort between the oncologist and the surgeon. We appreciate all the thoughts, prayers and support today. We thought it was good news, then we were devastated by the reality of what still lies ahead for Joe and are now trying to figure out where we go from here. A lot will depend on Joe's reaction when he comes out of ICU and the doctors discuss what they were able and not able to do. This is a very hard time for our family, but we feel so fortunate to have such a strong support system. Please keep the prayers coming.
All our love,
Sherrie, Candace, Amanda and Shelli
Thanks Sherrie for keeping us up on Joe's progress. All I can say is "What a trooper" - Joe is one strong guy. Must have been that "O" pledging! We offer our prayers and positive thoughts from Colorado!!
ReplyDeleteRick and Marlene
I have my entire women's bible group is praying for all of you. They ask for updates regulary and I tell them of the strength, faith, and love you all have. Believe in miracles - they are all around us. All my love, Robin
ReplyDeleteRosemary and I are in awe of Joe's positive attitude and strength. We know he draws his strength from his fine family and their bottomless love and support...and optimism! We pray that your family can find some comfort in the fact that the operation is over with, the medical issues are known, and that you have a good doctor that has Joe's quality of life in mind as he makes difficult decisions. Please know also that we think about you daily, and that we are more acutely aware of our own blessings of health and how fleeting this can be. Thanks for keeping your readers updated, and we'll continue to hold you in our thoughts and prayers. Dave E.
ReplyDeleteSherrie,
ReplyDeleteOur family has been following the blog and praying for you, Joe and family. Our prayers are now for a quick surgery recovery!
Thanks for sharing!
Cory and Becky