New to this group – stage III/IVa ICC
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Hi Elaine,
So happy to hear of your upcoming surgery!! Thank you for keeping us posted and I am looking forward to hearing more great updates! Enjoy the time with your twins, and I know how it feels to be there that last week of school, so important to the kids. Take care!
MelindaHi Elaine,
We so enjoy hearing great progress reports! Thank you for sharing – we are all excited for you and looking forward to more great reports.
Take care,
CatherineExcellent news, Elaine! Looking forward to even more good news after June 9th! Take each step at a time and it sounds like you are on a great road for your journey!
Hi all. I had a successful four-hour surgery yesterday to embolize the right portal vein. The surgeon said everything went really well and that I have nice anatomy that will make the liver surgeon’s job easier. Something about a nice big vein he can clamp off, or something like that. I think I was foggy when he talked about that!
I am scheduled to have a CT scan on April 27 to check growth of the left liver. We will meet with the surgeon right after the scan to find out how things are progressing. Hopefully there’s good news on that front. Another scan will probably happen a couple of weeks after that.
Surgery is tentatively scheduled for June 9. We asked if we could wait a couple of weeks beyond when the liver surgeon said he could operate, so I wouldn’t be in the hospital the last week or two of my twins’ Kindergarten year. That would be even more stressful for them than what they’ve been dealing with thus far, I think. Of course if he wants to proceed faster for whatever reason, we’ll do what he thinks is best. The bottom line is that I want to get this monster out!
I’ll let you all know what I find out on the 27th. Keep your fingers and toes crossed for good news!
I have suspicious nodes near the liver, as well as enlarged nodes in the mediastinum that were biopsied in December (no cancer found at that time). The are still enlarged – one grew a bit, one shrunk a bit. My oncologist says he doesn’t know if there’s lymphoma but that he’s going to assume the best regarding those nodes so I can proceed with surgery. Not sure what to think about the nodes near the liver. I would hate to wake up from surgery and find out that the resection was aborted. That scares the you-know-what out of me.
I am hoping all those nodes turn out to be benign!! Thanks for all the good wishes. I am very glad to have been told about this group. I’ll update again on Friday after the embolization.
Elaine, We’re all pulling for you here. I can tell you that I had “suspicious” hilar lymphnodes but they turned out to be benign. There was another lymph node close to my lungs, which eventually got smaller once I recovered from pneumonia..thus it was a “reactive” node….also not malignant. I know you won’t rest until you know for sure about the lymph nodes, but just because they’re enlarged, doesn’t mean that there’s something wrong with them. Prayers are being sent for you….that your left lobe steps up to the challenge and increases in size…..and surgery goes ahead. First step, first. Big hugs….Julie
Thanks for the update Elaine, and great news on the surgery going ahead!! I will be keeping everything crossed for you that it goes as planned and is a roaring success! And loads of positive thoughts will be heading your way as well.
Please let us know how it goes.
My best wishes to you,
Gavin
Dear Elaine, yea for surgery. You are so right to take it one day at a time. Best of luck on the 10th to start with.
You have twins!!! How great is that? I am sure they keep you busy both physically and mentally. You are blessed and I am not a psychic but I have good feelings about this.
P.S. My Mom was born and raised in St. Paul and going back soooo many years ago she worked at the State Building when she met my Dad. Grandpa had a shoe repair shop right down the street from the State Building. Do you remember a Men’s Clothing store downtown St. Paul called Nathans or Nates? That was a cousin. A little personal geography here.Hi all. Here’s the update I promised after meeting with the surgeon …
We met with the surgeon again yesterday. He plans to proceed with the intent of surgery. I am having an embolization procedure on Friday, 4/10. I will have CT scans on 4/27 and 5/11 to check on the growth of the left liver (it’s at 28% now and he needs it to be at least 30% to feel safe that it will have the volume/capacity to handle my liver function needs after resection). If he doesn’t see the required growth, he won’t be able to proceed with the surgery.
Surgery will take place sometime after 5/24. I am hoping to be able to push it back a bit, at least to 6/9, so I won’t be in the hospital the last week of school (I have boy/girl twins in Kindergarten).
The surgeon (Dr. Reddy) told us more about the procedure. He’ll do a diagnostic laparoscopy to look for disease outside the liver that wasn’t shown on the CT or MRI scans. If he doesn’t see anything, he’ll open me up. Then he’ll look for disease elsewhere again, including in some lymph nodes that are suspicious. He may abort surgery at that time if he sees something he doesn’t like.
If all goes well and he is able to do the resection, I will end up with about 1/3 of my liver remaining. He does not see a need to do any reconstruction of ducts or vessels. I will remain in the hospital for 7-10 days and then recuperate at home for 4-6 weeks.
I am scared that I’ll either not have the growth needed in the left liver or that he’ll open me up and have to abort the surgery. It’s one day at a time until those scans prove growth, then I will just have to wake up from surgery hoping for good news of a resection. Either way, it’s one day at a time.
I’ll keep you all posted on how things progress. Your support and understanding mean a lot.
Hey, Cuz, here we are on food again! I am not big on desserts or Candy and it is funny as my Dad had a Candy Store downtown Kansas City, Mo. between the big theaters and I worked with him from the time I was 10. I can still tell when I have a pound in my hands. Anyway he made his own chocolates, Karmelcorn, Cinnamon candied apples and etc. I love junk candy like Jujy Fruits not big on chocolate of anything. Weird. So, you can have my chocolate chips. Of course it was called….Candyland.
Love the poem – especially the “subdued” part! Thanks for the positive comments. Every bit helps. I’m still waiting to get my follow-up appointments scheduled … hopefully will have more information to share next week. Meanwhile I’m going to keep those cookies handy, just in case.
You asked for it Gav…..
When Elaine heard the train she thought it a refrain.
“Why eat just one cookie when so many remain!”
So she ate and she ate until they were gone,
And the monster inside,
Subdued with the tide!
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