Rodg and I arrived at the hospital at 5:30 and they took Rodg back to Pre-surgery. AT 7:30 I left pre-op to go to the surgical waiting lounge. My sisters, Nancy and Cathy were waiting for me.
Surgery started about 8 a.m. About 9:00, daughters, Rusti and Kelsi got there. Shorty after that my B-I-L, Mark, got there. At 10:15 Nurse Katie called and gave an update. Rodg is doing well and everything is going well. Noon was the next update with Rodg doing well still. At 2:00 Dr. McLeod met us in the surgical waiting room to discuss the surgery. Things went well. A large section of neck tissue was removed on the left side. Pathology will dissect the lymph nodes. A leak to the Thoracic Duct would be a concern, along with nerve damage to his left arm (he is a self-employed silk-screen printer that uses both arms to pull the sqeegee all day) and injury to the voicebox.
The Surgeon said Rodg would be in recovery about two hours, then put in a room. About 2:30, S-I-L Kristi arrived. At 4:00 we got the call that Rodg was in his room. I went up to his room first and seeing him was the BEST thing!
Rodger is talking well and able to move both arms. he has swelling on the left side and a LOT of steri-strips. There is an 8" incision on his neck.
Wednesday - due to fluid retention, the Dr drained 35cc of fluid from Rodg's neck. Other than that, Rodg is doing good and having wonderful care.
Thursday - Rodg is still doing well. Fluid retention is a concern. The Dr came in and (in brief) said the fluids (from a Chyle leak) shoud self-absorb and if we were comfortable going home, we could. He told us what to look for. We got home about 3p.m. At 7pm Rodg called the attending physician and after a chat, decided to stay home. (I was taking pictures of his neck every two hours to compare) At 9:30 p.m. Rodg said he would feel more comfortable to go get it looked at. We called ahead and when we got to the hospital at 10:30 we were whisked thru the emergency entrance to a WAITING Dr. who didn't want us to sit through hours in the emergency system ! (How great is that)
Within 15 minutes, Rodg was in a room. the Drs conferred and said nothing would be done until morning, so Rodg was tucked in and I went home.
Friday~ The Surgeon said he was working Rodg into the schedule and surgery should be about 1:00. Rodg finally went to surgery about 7pm. 250cc of fluid was drained off and a drainage tube installed.
Sat~ The Surgeon came in with the Pathology report back. 50 lymph nodes were removed, and only 15 of them were 'involved' (meaning cancerous). The Pathology report also states there were no findings in the surrounding skeletal muscles either. We are hoping that surgery #3 removed the rest of the cancer in Rodg's body, but future bloodtesting, in a couple of months will tell.
After instructions on a Fat-Free diet from the Dietician, and instructions on how to drain is fluid bulb, and a chart to log his output, Rodg was discharged to go home at 4:00. The Dr. prescribed MCT Oil for Rodg to take with this diet, and after 2.5 hours arguing with the hospital Pharmacy, we finally went home.
We could not have gotten through these 5 days without the love, prayers and support of family and friends. THANK YOU !!!!
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