The Day After Surgery

First, we have some more information about the test results. They aren't all back in yet, but we know a bit more than we did before.

• It is confirmed that the tumor is made of AML (leukemia) cells.
• He also has leukemia cells in his spinal fluid, which isn't surprising when you consider that's where the tumor is located.
• However, the preliminary tests on his bone marrow are clean - no leukemia cells. We have to wait on further tests that will provide a deeper analysis, but for now his marrow is clean.

The bone marrow and blood being clean while the spinal fluid is not is highly unusual. We aren't quite sure what to make of it yet. We will be meeting with Chase's primary oncologist, Dr.Cooper, tomorrow. Hopefully he will be able to tell us more, including some ideas for treatment options.

Chase was on a morphine pump all last night that helped control his pain, so he said he slept well. I wish I could say the same, but I didn't expect to sleep much being in PICU.

A couple of Physical Therapists came by today to evaluate Chase. He currently doesn't have a lot of mobility in his right arm or leg, which was the side of the spinal cord that the tumor was compressing. The neurologist said this would happen and that it would improve over the next couple of days. They moved him around, got him to roll on his side, sat him up and eventually stood him up. He was in pain and asked that he get Valium before they got started next time. I think I had to hit his Morphine button 3 or 4 times while they were here. I could see he was in pain and I was so proud of him. I can't imagine how much effort that took less then 24 hours after surgery.

It seems like every movement he wants to make in his upper body causes a strain on his neck and those muscles. He can now move his left arm enough to scratch his face and hit his pain pump button.

He ate a great lunch today, which is encouraging, but he's very hesitant to leave the PICU right now. They've mentioned that they'll probably take him back to the Aflac floor when a bed is ready. He feels he needs to be under more supervision for one more night. That and they said they'll remove the catheter. He isn't thrilled about the thought of needing help to go "potty" while he's so incapacitated.

I can't recall if I mentioned that we could see where the tumor was. I took a couple of "before" pictures. It might be difficult to make out, but there is a definite curved area that was larger than it should be, which makes sense now that we know the tumor was 2cm x 3cm x 4cm.

And, just in case you might be a bit squeamish, there is a photo of the incision and stitches ( no blood ) a bit further down.

Thank you again for all of the continued prayers and positive thoughts!!

 

The stitches won't dissolve and will have to be removed in about two weeks.

 

Finally Out of Surgery

I left Chase with the surgeons this morning around 8:30.  They told me it would take an hour to prep him for the actual surgery, everything should take 3 to 4 hours, and that I should expect a call once they started the surgery.

In the meantime, I ate breakfast and Jan Masingill, one of my bosses, dropped by the hospital on her way out of town for Spring Break.  She delivered a card that included donations from my coworkers that they gathered in a matter of hours. I was and am amazed and deeply touched by their generosity. I can't adequately express  how grateful I am or how wonderful the people are in my school system.  Thank you!

Right before Jan left, Rick, my husband, called and what I didn't know was that he was already in the hospital trying to find me. What a welcomed surprise since I wasn't expecting him until later.

By 10:30, I was about to come unglued because I had yet to receive a call from surgery. I left Chase's room to go to the nurse's station when my phone rang. They had started about 30 ago, which meant the entire time of the surgery was already going to take longer than anticipated.

The next phone call didn't come until 12:50. Chase was doing well but they still had longer to go.  Finally at 1:21 I was told the neurosurgeons had completed their part and all that was left was the bone marrow aspiration.

He was taken to recovery at 1:47 and remained there until almost 3:15. A recovery nurse called me and said he was in considerable pain and they were working to try and manage it before bringing him to the PICU. 

One of the surgeons stopped by and spoke with me about the surgery. Here's a quick run down of what we know so far:

- He will be in ICU for probably two days
- He has stitches in his neck that will need to be removed in 2 weeks.
- They were able to remove 40 - 60% of the tumor.
- The preliminary pathology looks like the tumor is consistent with an AML (acute myeloid leukemia ) tumor.

We do not have the results back from his bone marrow aspiration or the spinal tap. I was told earlier that we should hopefully have some conclusive news about the tumor by the end of today. Right now, this is a sit and wait situation. Based on what has been said, Chase will need some kind of treatment to eradicate the tumor. Whether that means radiation or chemo, I don't know. Until we have the rest of the results, they can't decide what treatment regiment he'll need, when he will start or how long it might last.

At this point, I was really hoping for more answers but it's in God's hands and I've got to leave it there. It's difficult, but at least we know what was causing his pain and the tumor is no longer threatening his well-being.

I can't thank you enough for the prayers and I will update as soon as we know more.

God Bless!