Summary of Surgeon's Observations

Mom is stable and in recovery. Mom's surgery lasted 3 hours, there was no large tumor mass found, but numerous cancer nodules that had infiltrated the omentum, and the mesentery surrounding the bowel (small intestines). It was confirmed that she does have a form of ovarian cancer. Because there was no large mass found, the surgeon did not think it was worthwhile to conduct the hysterectomy. He did call in a GI surgeon to help bypass a particularly diseased portion of the small intestine to restore her ability to eat, but nothing was removed.

The next step is chemotherapy, which the surgeon wants to start before she leaves the hospital in the next 4-6 days. When asked how effective the chemotherapy would be, they expected it to be 75-80%. Right now we are waiting on the analysis of the pathology report from the oncologist, who will determine the treatment regimen for the future months. The surgeon hopes that her eating function will be restored quickly but until then it may be necessary to have an intravenous feeding tube which will require some home support. The coming months will be challenging until the fall - at which point we hope she will begin to feel much better. The surgeon hopes that the chemotherapy will take care of most of the tumors and he said that another surgery will be needed to "mop up" all the residual tumor.

Mom is currently recovering. Dad and Anna went to talk with her, but she is still under the effects of the anesthesia. She will be in recovery for several more hours until her fluids are replaced and her electrolytes are balanced. Please pray that Mom's recovery would be swift, the oncologist would accurately diagnose the cancer and develop an effective treatment plan, her pain would be minimized, her eating function would be restored, and she would be encouraged and optimistic through the coming days.

Mom cannot receive visitors or take calls at this time. We are conveying all messages of love and encouragement to her regularly. Please let us know if you have any questions via the blog. We will do our best to answer any questions you have and pass on all messages. Thank you for your support.