Dad’s cancer surgery

A writer I am not -but I thought I’d write out a brief synopsis for those of you who are interested.

This cancer/tumor was a serendipitous find – his doc was looking for something else when he found it. It is not only extremely rare – and of the 3 kinds of these rare tumors, the rarest of the 3. It is also extremely invasive and aggressive as we discovered today. We were expecting a quarter sized tumor on his thymus gland, near his heart. What was found was a salad plate sized tumor that encompassed his aorta, lungs, and a good portion of the thoracic cavity. What was expected to be a 2-3 hour surgery turned into a 6 hour procedure. The situation became so grave that the surgeon came to us for permission to continue. Had he stopped and left some of the tumor attached to the aorta, it would have been like leaving a very bad seed planted. This cancer is likely to return anyway, but leaving part of it would have given it a much stronger foothold. In the process of the surgery, they had to tie off a blood vessel to dad’s arm. This will leave him with permanent swelling and discomfort – but at least it’s his left arm! The surgeon also told us that they had two ‘emotional moments’ where blood vessels that were tied off erupted. Twice, Dad came close to bleeding out -but God intervened and allowed the doctors to control it. As of now, 11:30 pm, 10+ hours after this surgery began, Dad is in recovery. He is still intubated – but periodically fighting it a bit. I am hoping that when I return in the morning (I have Cocoa -care duties tonight!), that they will have removed those tubes and he will be breathing on his own. The doctor also told us today that many surgeons would have opened Dad up and declared it unresectable (unable to be removed by surgery). Fortunately, we had an aggressive surgeon who decided it was worth the risk and the trouble.

Thank you to all of you, all over the country, who have called, texted, emailed and commented and most of all prayed. While we had some very scary moments, and the tears were frequently welling over, we were always confident of God’s Sovereignty.

While things are looking as good as can be right now, this isn’t over. Not only is there a very long recovery process ahead, there is also the very likely possibility that this cancer will return and with a vengance. Continue to pray, not only for Dad and his physical recovery, but for mom as well, as she is his primary caregiver – even in the hospital. The advanced Parkinson’s, the Deep Brain Stimulators, the stage 3 kidney failure and the REM sleep disorder, combined with today’s surgery make his care a daunting task.

UPDATE: Tubes were removed around 2:30 this morning. He is still very groggy. His first question was to ask how Cocoa was – and then whether they got the whole tumor.

UPDATE 29th 4:48: Dad spend about 4 hours in a chair today. The chest tubes drain so much better that way. He is struggling to do breathing exercises – it is a multi-task process that for a PD patient is difficult, even with full lung capacity!

UPDATE: While Dad continues to heal surgically, his PD symptoms remain very bad. These symptoms and behaviors are indicative of end stage Parkinson’s. On Wednesday ( I think) Dad had a large amount of one of his PD meds. He seemed almost normal (for him) that afternoon for a few hours. He was speaking much clearer. He also asked to eat and fed himself. However, he also started hallucinating. While the hallucinations are not good – the near normal behaviors seem to indicate that there is hope that the current severity of the PD will ease. Unfortunately, the last few days he’s also been extremely combative- not at all himself. Mom did sleep 2.5 hours at one point last night and then another 2. Considerating that she has gotten MAYBE 9 hours total for the week up to then – 4.5 hours is WONDERFUL!

UPDATE: 6th (end of day 10) Dad is still confused and combative at times. He did seem to have a few more moments of lucidity though. They’ve tried to limit his pain meds to just Ty lenol. Neuro came in today – PTL!! She said that what he is going through is fairly normal for patient with PD who has had such a traumatic surgery . We found out that it normally hits several days after surgery – which is what confused me. He is being moved to ICU though- There are a limited amount of bed in DVCU and a bed was needed for an emergency heart surgery. The unit fought for 4 hours to keep him there though. The staff on the CVCU has been absolutely fabulous. As of the last text msg, Dad is still waiting for that transfer upstairs. 

UPDATE: Since my last update things have gone from bad to worse. 7 hours after dad was transferred out of CVCU, he stopped breathing.( I will not get into the many negative issues we have dealt with since moving to ICU.) At that time he was intubated (put on a ventilator) and sedated and is still in that state today -6 -almost 7 days later. Just when we were thinking that he was resting and healing, his blood pressure tanked. We were sure that it was time to let him go. He did not want any heroic measures and had already been resuscitated to a certain degree. His surgeon was paged when we changed the advance directive, and persuaded us that giving him some blood could be all that was needed to help him turn the corner. He was given 4 units of blood and some medication, and within 12 hours his vitals were looking much better. Since then, they have been slowing lowering the sedation meds as well as lessening the work that the vent does. At one point, yesterday and also today, they had him breathing on his own with some assistance from the vent. He seemed more alert at times today. His very much loved puppy, Cocoa has been to see him 3 times now. The nurses all feel that he is very much aware of her being there. Last night we purchased an Ipod shuffle so that he can listen to hymns and such. He seems to like that as well. I am still struggling with the up and down of it all. Mom has been getting a little more sleep as sedated as he’s been – but has not gotten good sleep, since she only has an upright chair to sleep in.

UPDATE: Sunday, June 14 I need to add here that while my head knows that God is in control, I am still amazed when He works things to our benefit. The day that dad’s BP tanked, God arranged for the right people to be at the hospital at the right time to help us make the right decision at that moment. We were surrounded by people with a Godly perspective who had medical knowledge- people who had ‘been there’ with a husband and brother, and one with a son- people who have wisdom and perspicacity and all who were not afraid to speak up, ask questions and give us their opinion. God has even provided us with some nurses who were believers! 

I should add here that dad is off the sedation meds, and is somewhat alert. He is breathing on his own with the assistance of the ventilator. Still watching and waiting.

UPDATE: Some day soon I’ll come back and fill in the holes between Sunday the 14th and Saturday the 20th…… but for now, to complete this story;
Daddy went home to be with his Savior on the 20th – one day shy of his 64th birthday. While we weep for ourselves, we know that Dad now has a new and whole body.

www.weisefuneralhome.com