Removing the Cancer

Well, the surgeon came to talk to Tami in the ER that night and explained how he was going to do the surgery and that he had done this kind of surgery many, many times before.  She questioned how they know it is cancer without any further testing, or proof.  He responded to her, “if it looks like a duck, talks like a duck, walks likes a duck, it’s a duck.”  He pulled out his I-phone and showed her a video of himself doing the surgery he would be doing on her.  Personally, I thought that was kind of arrogant and bad timing.  He decided to do the surgery laparoscopically as the scans did not show any evidence of further spread at this time.  She was admitted to the hospital for what would be the first of many hated hospital stays.  She was given a room in an overflow wing of the Kaiser facility in Irvine as the hospital was full.  Her room was weird, no couch, or bed for guests….no private bathroom, just a toilet thing in the back of the room.  I know she didn’t want to be there alone and it was hard to go home each night…but she once again showed her strength and courage.

The first order of business was to prep for a colonoscopy so they could get a closer look at the tumor and take a biopsy.  As she was already having difficulty with her bowels, this task was sure to be painful and daunting.  The morning of surgery came, and she was so strong and courageous.  Ashley was there with us and was able to go with her mom to the prep room.  It was a long anxious morning for those of us waiting for her to come out of surgery.  The doctor came out and said the surgery went well.  He talked about the tumor – its size, location, and that it had broken the muscle wall, BUT he insisted he GOT IT ALL.  He was able to remove the part of the colon that needed to be removed and re-attach it so she would not need a colostomy bag.  We were all thrilled and relieved.  There were lymph nodes involved, so this meant meeting with an Oncologist and discussing treatment options, most likely chemotherapy.  Had we known then what “breaking through the muscle wall” meant, we would have asked more questions and challenged the surgeon more.  The fact that that tumor had broken through the muscle wall was not such a good thing.  We found out later through much of our own research that there could have been a chance the cancer seeded her abdomen.  The surgeon did not talk to us about that.  He just acted as if he got everything and chemo was just a precaution.  We did know that Tami would be very excited about not waking up to a colostomy bag.  It was her worst nightmare, well besides being diagnosed with cancer.