Surgery Success!

after what was probably the longest, most anxiety-ridden night of our lives, Stacie and i woke up early this morning and headed to the hospital for her surgery. she went into the operating room around 8 am and was in ICU by 11:30am.

the results? the doctors are very confident that the whole tumor is out and they estimate that about 70% of her liver was removed along with her gall bladder. there were several concerns we had before the operation started (these are just a few):

• was it resectable/removable?
• was the tumor interfering with the inferior vena cava (IVC) - this would most likely result in a reconstruction of the IVC
• was the tumor blocking both bile ducts/veins/arteries - this would result in a reconstruction of any of the "pipes"
• will she lose too much blood?
• will the surgeons be able to get negative margins?

the doctor said it was an excellent surgery because it was, of course, resectable, they didn't run into any of the blocking/reconstruction issues, and she lost very little blood. all of this was EXCELLENT news. the tumor was removed with what he thought were negative margins, and we'll have confirmation of those margins after a pathology report of the tumor comes back (hopefully within 5 days). on top of this news, dr. Halff and team thought the remaining 30% of her liver looked great and they anticipate a full, quick recovery.

Stacie is in ICU now and slowly getting back into the swing of things. all of her vitals are looking good and we might be able to move to a regular room tomorrow. the doctors tell us that she should be able to go home in 5-7 days and she can't wait to get back to our "boring" life with the girls.

thanks so much for all of your thoughts and prayers! we're not out of the woods yet, but this appears to be a huge victory in our journey.

- eric