The Eve of Operation GET TO THE TUMAH.
Today, Dan met with a naturopath to talk healing during recovery, and then later with the urologist specialist who's keying the surgery.
Surgery happens tomorrow, June 13, at 1pm, at Royal Columbian Hospital. Surgery will be several hours, at the minimum.
He might be left under general anesthesia for a few days, so we'll let everyone know when he's awake and moved out of ICU and into a recovery room that accepts balloons and cards that explode glitter. (Kidding. Don't send glitter.) (Sparkles are cool, tho.)
Unfortunately, the surgeons have decided that the best course of action is to open up Dan vertically, rather than the hoped for belly button to armpit diagonal direction. This gives the surgeons greater access to Dan's IVC, where the majority of the tumor resides according to the scans, but it also means they're breaking Dan's sternum, which we were hoping didn't have to happen.
There is still a lot of unknowns. They don't know if the thrombus has cut off all blood flow or only most, if it's grown into the IVC walls or not and require a synthetic replacement or not. They're not sure of the status of the liver, and if the scans show the adrenal gland or a metastasis to the liver. The extent of growth toward the other kidney is a little uncertain, so they're not sure the hit it'll take.
The first goal is to get Dan through this alive. The second is to get all the cancer. And the second they won't be sure of for a few months anyway until it's time to do some more body scans.
In the meantime, it's a lot of anxious waiting for Dan and his family, to really discover what's going on in that big bear huggable chest of his.
We thank everybody reaching out with donations and care and thoughts and prayers and well wishes and love and love and love. Thank you.
Today, Dan met with a naturopath to talk healing during recovery, and then later with the urologist specialist who's keying the surgery.
Surgery happens tomorrow, June 13, at 1pm, at Royal Columbian Hospital. Surgery will be several hours, at the minimum.
He might be left under general anesthesia for a few days, so we'll let everyone know when he's awake and moved out of ICU and into a recovery room that accepts balloons and cards that explode glitter. (Kidding. Don't send glitter.) (Sparkles are cool, tho.)
Unfortunately, the surgeons have decided that the best course of action is to open up Dan vertically, rather than the hoped for belly button to armpit diagonal direction. This gives the surgeons greater access to Dan's IVC, where the majority of the tumor resides according to the scans, but it also means they're breaking Dan's sternum, which we were hoping didn't have to happen.
There is still a lot of unknowns. They don't know if the thrombus has cut off all blood flow or only most, if it's grown into the IVC walls or not and require a synthetic replacement or not. They're not sure of the status of the liver, and if the scans show the adrenal gland or a metastasis to the liver. The extent of growth toward the other kidney is a little uncertain, so they're not sure the hit it'll take.The first goal is to get Dan through this alive. The second is to get all the cancer. And the second they won't be sure of for a few months anyway until it's time to do some more body scans.
In the meantime, it's a lot of anxious waiting for Dan and his family, to really discover what's going on in that big bear huggable chest of his.
We thank everybody reaching out with donations and care and thoughts and prayers and well wishes and love and love and love. Thank you.
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