Surgery Update

Well, the last 24 hours have been...ummm....busy with many changes taking place. After waiting for 4 hours for Alan to go back to surgery yesterday, they decided not to do the Vertebroplasty. They already had him asleep and on the table, but after looking at the CT they did right before procedure, the surgeon decided this was not the right decision. He came out and told Alan's dad and I that the tumor in Alan's vertebrae had grown significantly from the scans in February and that the Vertebroplasty would not help. Of course we were VERY upset with this news and couldn't understand how it had grown that much in two weeks, but I guess it could happen. The tumor in Alan's back has been stable, where other areas have shrunk. Anyway, Dr. Amato wanted us to come see him at his office once Alan woke up from the surgery.

So, we go to Amato's office and they say NO, the tumor has not grown. OK, so that was good news, but why did the surgeon say it had and they said it had not. Who is right!!! Anyway, Amato wants Alan to have an MRI of the lumbar and thoracic areas and then be admitted to hospital for a major back surgery on Friday....today!! Alan did very will with this MRI. They doped him up pretty well, so I think he slept through this one.

Dr. Rex Marco will be Alan's Oncologist Orthopedic Surgeon. He only works on cancer patients from what we understand. I think we are in pretty good hands from what others have said about this surgeon. Alan stayed in hospital last night. Still this morning, we did not know what time Alan's surgery would be, so Alan's dad and I have been at the hospital since 6:30 this morning. I guess we found out around 8 or so that his surgery has been scheduled for 10:30, but the Dr. made it pretty clear that it would probably be later than that since we are kind of a work in....GREAT!!

Alan's surgery will be 3-5 hours long. They will be putting rods and screws in his back to help stabalize the vertebrae and get pressure off of the spinal column and nerve root. Will have to remove some bone and some other things I don't understand. PRAYING this will help with pain. This is a completely different surgery compared to the Vertebroplasty....very invasive. As first Amato's office said they wanted to try and scrape away the tumor from the vertebrae, but after talking to the surgeon this morning, he said they will only mess with the tumor if they can get to it and it will not cause more damage. Obviously we will not know everything until after surgery. Alan will probably be in hospital 3-4 days....just depends on how he is recovering.

I guess that is it for now. I'm sure I have left out some details. These past two days have been very tiring, but we just keep praying for healing and strength. It's gong to be a long weekend, but I had my Starbucks this morning and I'm doing a little better, Alan is resting with some good IV pain meds and thank goodness Alan's dad is with us. Thank you in advance for your prayers and kid words!!
God is sooooo good....All the time!!!