January 14, 2009

Bobbie Update - Jan 14, 2009

I spent the entire day at the hospital with Bobbie today.  I'm pretty crushed tired right now, so this may be pretty short.

The important stuff:
Bobbie's surgery is set for Friday.  Don't know the exact scheduled time yet, but we should learn that tomorrow afternoon.  Her expected hospital stay following the surgery is 5 - 7 days.  Her expected recovery following discharge is 6 weeks of "don't lift anything heavier than a gallon of milk", though she may be back to somewhat normal function in 2 - 3 weeks.

Some info about the surgery:
There are 4 visible tumors in the tests performed thus far.  The surgery will entail an incision pretty much from her naval up for as tall as it needs to be for a "safe surgery".  They will feel out the entire length of her small intestine by hand and remove any additional tumors or unknown masses that they find.  As far as the rerouting of her intestinal track, it sounds like it will be tricky and pretty much a once they are in there decision.  The current scans show the known tumors to exist potentially behind her pancreas, so they will possibly cut a hole in her stomach and attach an intestine back at that point in an effort to not have to remove a portion of her pancreas.  All pretty strange sounding and a little frightening, but I had a great deal of comfort with the surgeon we spoke with who seemed very confident and competent.

Ok, that's it.  I have to hit the hay now.  I'll be working tomorrow and then likely spending the bulk of Friday through Sunday at the hospital.  Updates will follow as any additional info comes along.  I doubt that I will be sending anything additional out until after her surgery is complete on Friday or possibly tomorrow once we know when the surgery is scheduled.

Set your good vibes and prayers on high for Friday.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Pauley!! Just wanted to let you know I receive updates from Stephanie regularly. So sorry to hear about Bobbie's continued struggle with cancer. I think about you often and how crappy it is that such terrible things happen to such nice people. What you wrote in your blog about Bobbie's strength and how you admire her for it, WOW!! I think you are both very lucky to have each other. I will keep you and your family in my prayers. I am glad to see Kellan is going to a Christian school, since his Dad is an athiest(sp) an all. Just kidding. The Jingle Bells thing, the only other version I ever learned was "Jingle bells, batman smells, robin layed an egg, batmobile lost his wheel and joker got away!! HEY!" Maybe you could really confuse him and teach him that version as well. Hope to talk to you soon. Best wishes Melissa Z.

Paul McRae said...

Heheh... ah yes, the infamous Batman smells version. I know it well.

Thank you for the kind words. It is definitely very challenging and awful to endure.