Some Good News!

On Wednesday, March 5th, Ken had a colonoscopy. This was done to check for tumors in the left part of the colon that would not be removed in the surgery scheduled for the following day. The procedure went well and the doctor said that he found one small polyp in the part of the intestine that was already scheduled to be removed, but he went ahead and removed it anyway. He said he was not concerned about the polyp.

Early in the morning, on Thursday, March 6th, Ken had an open right hemicolectomy. He went into surgery around 7:40a.m. and was finally moved to his room at about 1:30p.m. It was a long morning for me. Luckily Ken's father came and sat with me during some of that time. That helped to pass the time a little more quickly. Dr. Campbell the surgeon came into the waiting room and said that the surgery went as expected. He said that he didn't find out of the ordinary or unexpected. That was a huge relief. There is a tendecy to find tumors growing in the abdominal cavity. We are very pleased. We are now waiting for the results of the pathology reports on the lymph nodes which should be available either Monday or Tuesday.

Ken is doing pretty well. He has try really hard to do what he needs to do to heal quickly. Thursday, the day of the surgery, he tried to sleep most of the day, but kept being awakened by the oxygen moniter every time he started to fall asleep. (It almost worked like an alarm). His oxygen levels normally fall when he sleeps because he has sleep apnea. He couldn't use his CPAP because of the stomach suction tube that was in his nose. He got very little sleep following the surgery. I asked Ken if he realized how many tubes he had going into his body. He said that it was better not to know. So in secret and as a matter of record, he had 6; a cathater, a drain from the incision, a stomach suction tube, an IV, a tube for oxygen in the nose and a cord to monitor his oxygen level on his finger.
MORE TO COME