Surgical Thursday

The day never seemed to get here, but finally it is Thursday. In less than an hour from now we will head over to the hospital to get Sandi checked in. Sandi's cardiac surgery to go in and see what the thing is that is pressing on her heart sac is set for 1 pm.


If it is cancer---as we all expect--the doctor intends to leave the thing in place and back out of there. Removing it would raise the risk of spreading it as may have happened when they had to do so many biopsies last November. At that time several tumors in various places were removed. If it is cancer he will also put another port back into her chest and hook it into the main artery to her heart in preparation for more chemotherapy.


If it is not cancer, I am not sure what he will do. While I do understand why it should not be removed if it is cancerous, it seems to me anything pressing on the heart sac like this is should be taken out of there. Apparently, if it is not cancer, it still might stay in depending on what it is.


If everything went perfectly today, Sandi could be back home tomorrow. The odds for that happening are very low. Not only does Sandi have a history of heart attacks and strokes, there is considerable damage in her right lung still visible on the CT Scan from last November. While the fluid is not present in the lung, the scarring and damage it left behind is still very visible and a surgical obstacle. Not only does the doctor have to work around that, depending on how much he has to do, it may be necessary for a chest drainage tube again. If that happens, she definitely will be in longer.


So, that is where we are this Thursday morning. Hopefully, for once, everything will go smoothly and there won't be any complications. No matter what happens, today is going to be a very long day. I will update everyone when I can.


Kevin