5/15/08

Judy went into surgery around 4:15 this afternoon and was finished around 6:30pm. After resting in the recovery room for about an hour we met her up in her room. She did very well in surgery and they were finally able to get that stint in her bile duct. So she should lose that yellow color and be back to her pink self in no time.

A few minutes after we got into the room another Dr. came in and said she had fluid in her kidneys and they would need to bring her back to the OR tomorrow for 2 more stints. He also said no food until after the surgery was over. For those counting, she hasn't been allowed to eat since Tuesday at midnight. I could tell she was feeling a little better because she gave every nurse who came in a lecture about starving her to death!LOL

So they tried to biopsy the lymph node in her neck this morning, but the samples they got were no good. The pathologist stayed for the surgery so he could try again while she was out. He also poked a needle through the wall of her bile duct and got a sample of the lymph nodes around her pancreas. He said that was definitely cancerous, he also assumes her neck is cancerous but can't be definitive until he gets the labs back.

Her pancreas itself seemed to look just fine, as well as the interior of the bile duct, but he took a brushing anyway so we can know for sure. At this point they are going to assume its breast cancer that has just metastasized in other locations. It's the most probable and our best shot at treating her.

I asked the Dr to stage her Cancer for me but he was unwilling to do so until he knew for sure what kind of Cancer it was. I also asked him what he thought it was if not breast Cancer and he refused to answer. What can you do? He said since tomorrow is Friday we would probably not learn where the Cancer originated until Monday. If I'm able to get some information about it tomorrow I will post an update. We expect mother home tomorrow evening at the earliest, and quite possibly not until Saturday.