Large And In Charge

That's what I called mom this morning in pre-op holding- her belly is quite sizable these days, no wonder since she's carrying around an ovary the size of a cantaloupe! Yes, that's right- eat your heart out grapefruits, she's moving up in the world.

Coco and I drove her in the early morning darkness. It's almost comical how opposite she is going in to this surgery based on her last experience. This time- NOTHING goes to the hospital that will have to come back home for fear of carrying home any delicious buggies. We've even been instructed to bring tilex spray (apparently the most potent and only bleach-containing spray), gloves, dry wipes, and disposable toiletries. That's it. And we're too wipe down the things in her hospital room whenever possible. Do you think her last experience with c.diff has put her a bit over the edge? Sometimes knowing "too much" can have it's benefits though- she used Nair hair-removal lotion on both of her arms yesterday because nothing was more painful, then having tape ripped off her arm hair. Genius!

And I have a Howard development! Remember the miserable post-op nurse Mom had who made her cry??? He still works there! To every person we encountered, Mom plead her case: "I had such a bad experience last time, can I please please please have my daughter with me in post-op?" It's usually a very big no-no because it's a busy place with lots going on, but after hearing it enough, they relented. After she had her IV's placed (yes- two- ouch), we met her OR nurse, Jeff, who has been the nurse working the da Vinci robot since it's arrival to St. Frannie's a year and a half ago. He snuck me in to the pre-op holding area (also a no-no) so I could meet all the other bodies who would be in the OR with Mom. He gave me all the answers to my "what-ifs" and spoke to the nurse manager about making sure I can be right there when Mom is rolled out.

The all-star line up includes Jeff, her fantastic da Vinci OR nurse who's also proved to be Mom's best advocate right off the bat. Dr. Spark, the anesthesiologist who's ID was so worn thin I had to believe there's no one more experienced to be at her bedside. Jim, the nurse anesthetist (hooray, another NURSE) who will be at her head managing airway, vital signs, medications, fluids, etc. with the help of Dr. Spark. Dr. Boyle is Dr. Kennedy's partner who will place the stents in her two ureters from Lil' Lefty so everyone can visualize and protect the little buggers during surgery. Last but not least- Dr. Nelson. I have to admit my eyes welled up the second I saw her! She immediately puts those around her at ease, and I can see why Mom loved her so much when they met two weeks ago. She just listened to everything Mom had to say with a hand on her arm, completely zoned in despite the group of doctors standing at the bedside talking to one another.

This is a really perfect example of many different disciplines in medicine and nursing coming together to help one person. They're communication with one another, and each person's ability to fill in the blanks based on their experience caring for Mom will play a huge part in the outcome of this surgery. What do I mean you might ask? Well, you can imagine our surprise when her anesthesiologist didn't seem to know she'd already had a kidney and ureter out less than a year ago! Enter Dr. Boyle who filled him in and then they were all on the same page again.

The surgery will be anywhere between 3-6 hours depending on what the ovarian biopsy indicates. I'll be hanging waiting-room style by 10am since that's the earliest possible time she will be out.

Best be getting back to St. Frannie's now! Will post as soon as I'm able this afternoon.

Final Countdown

As of tonight, Mom can't enjoy anything but her bowel clean-out fluid, which for those of you who have had a colonoscopy, know isn't the tastiest beverage this world has to offer. The past week has gotten progressively more challenging secondary to what we're assuming is the continuing growth of her ovary. Mom says the only thing she can really compare it to is being pregnant! She can't button her pants, she has to eat very small frequent meals if she can tolerate even that, and is feeling very ready to get this ovary and co. out! Despite the discomfort, her spirits are in excellent shape. Mom's arrived at a place of understanding and is at peace with the plan.

I blog tonight from work- my last shift for the next two weeks! And Gwennie arrives home for 3 weeks in just a few days. Amazing how this has turned in to a positive opportunity for us all to be home together.

I'll make sure to update the blog as soon as possible on Monday. We report at 5:30am, so I am hoping to have something good to post by mid-afternoon.

As soon as we're needing resources, we'll reach out to Susan Eastman to coordinate, our Helping Hands superstar! Thanks to all of you who've reached out with endless love and support.

FYI: Blog Post Alerts

Coco made a good point in a comment- there is a way for readers to get email notifications of when I post on this blog if you're interested. Here is what I found under frequently asked questions:

How do I notify people of updates to my blog?
We’ve got a few suggestions:
Use the BlogSend feature to email folks when you update your blog.
Get your friends hooked on feeds and give them the feed of your blog.
Feedburner also has a Subscribe via Email widget you can add to your blog after burning your feed.
Blogarithm is a service that will let your friends and family subscribe to your blog and be notified by email when you have new content.
Blog Alert will send your family and friends daily email notifications when there are new posts to your blog. They don't need an account. They just need to enter your feed URL and their email address.

Hope this is helpful!

Endometrial Polyp = Clean

I received the following in an email from Mom this morning:

Good news so far. The endometrial biopsy showed no signs of cancer. Also no signs of hyperdysplasia (abnormal cells). So that’s a good start. They will biopsy the entire kit’n’kaboodle during surgery for further, more comprehensive results. Meanwhile, my belly is round and hard. I look like Alfred Hitchcock.

As we say in our house, we're preparing for the worst and hoping for the best- but this is very promising. Even if the ovary is cancerous, it doesn't necessarily mean it has spread. Frankly, I was more worried about this polyp than the ovary in some ways, so hooray!

Filling in the Blanks

It is so wonderful to hear from everyone again! I've gotten so many thoughtful emails, and tons of questions that I hope I've been able to address adequately. One many of you have in common is, "how is her new house?" A few entries back in early spring, Mom had bought a lovely little farm house and was ready to start her life happier and healthier than ever, but alas, she had to sell the house just as quickly as she bought it. Many factors came in to play, but primarily the sale on the larger house fell through and shortly after the market got nasty. It seemed a smarter decision to sell the new house to the family she out-bid before her savings got nasty! It broke all our hearts to think we wouldn't spend this Thanksgiving in that fantastic barn, but it's now occupied by a sweet family, and Mom isn't faced with keeping up a barn home right now. In a way, it all worked out for the best.

As I understand it, Mom will revisit down-sizing from her current home once she's on stronger and healthier ground. If anyone knows a family looking for a great house in Avon, send them our way!

Good news that is sure to make Mom's recovery swift! Gwennie has arranged to complete the next few weeks of her semester in Montreal on-line so she can spend some time at home. Poor thing was only home for a week last winter, and her cheeks were double in size thanks to her wisdom teeth extraction. We're looking so forward to teaming up on the nursing responsibilities, and the best part is- she can FINALLY drive!!!

November 17, Here We Come!

Mom's scheduled for first thing, Monday Nov. 17. To use her words, she's not entirely thrilled about the whole thing, but happy they're doing it on the earlier side. In true form, Coco and I will make the early morning trek with Mom to the hospital, and then spend all day Christmas shopping at Crate & Barrel.

We have to do something to keep our minds sane.

Once we have a better sense of what resources we need to recruit, we'll let everyone know!

Mom's a Fruit

The title of my entry popped out during my conversation with Coco this afternoon when I desperately needed a laugh.

Mom went in for her 6 month post chemo CAT scan this morning, with an inkling that something might by array. Less than a week ago she paid a visit to her GYN because of some unusual post-menopausal symptoms (but I swear, she's only 47). She experienced excruciating pain and undesirable bleeding during her exam, and an ultrasound showed one ovary was double the size it should be (healthy ovaries are the size of a walnut). The day after her appointment, while I was on the phone with her, Susan Eastman showed up at her door, coffee in hand, and said, "What do we need to do!" Angel! They called St. Frannie's cancer center and made sure that they could see a gyneoncologist after seeing her kidney oncologist today.

Her oncologist who treated her after the ureter cancer, Dr. Donadio, is out on maternity leave, so she was met by a nurse practitioner and another oncologist in the practice. Turns out that the cyst is the size of a GRAPEFRUIT!

The next appointment was with Dr. Beth Nelson (who she loved immediately). She specializes in gynecological cancer, and she also reviewed the CAT scan. The ovary is enormous, there's no denying that, but she seemed positive about several things: it's very smooth and normal in shape, and it's easy to move and manipulate. The shape indicates that it could be just a fluid-filled benign cyst, and the mobility means it hasn't latched itself to anything. Additionally, the rate at which it's growing does not indicate cancer activity, more cyst-like behaviors. The CAT scan also indicated Mom has a tiny polyp on the wall of her uterus, so that was biopsied today, but cyst was left alone. Don't want to burst that bubble!

On to the plan: Dr. Nelson is going to communicate with Dr. Kennedy (Mom's tried and true kidney specialist) to coordinate a day where they can tag-team mom's belly! Because of the vast amount of scar tissue, Mom's history, and the fragile nature with which they'll have to remove the cyst, she wants to perform the surgery using da Vinci- a robot. She'd like Dr. Kennedy to place a stent in Lil' Lefty's ureter just to make sure that kidney has zero complications during surgery. Then, she'll try to remove the cyst via laprascope (less invasive) and biopsy it on the spot. Her next step will be directly based on what those instantaneous biopsy results read. Cancer? Well, the whole kit-and-caboodle might have to come out. Not cancer? She might be more conservative.

Nothing will be happening for about two weeks, given this cyst doesn't decide to burst itself. Mom needs to be off her medications and supplements for a minimum of 10 days, and then there's a matter of coordinating Dr. Kennedy and Dr. Nelson's schedule with Dr. da Vinci. They felt strongly that waiting a few weeks in order to use the very popular (very hard to book) robot would be the safest and most thorough option.

Mom's understandably overwhelmed right now, but is thankful to have some time to tie up loose ends before surgery. She and Coco are decompressing over a pot of tea right now in West Hartford.

I'll post when we have the date! In the meantime, send your good vibes and prayers Mom's way.

And if you haven't already today- VOTE!