Hi - this
is Michelle's friend Sharon posting on Michelle and the gang's behalf. Here is
a recap from today that I received from Mom Whitehead along the way...
Around 12:30 (AZ/PST time), Michelle was in the operating room. The surgeons noted that they had to remove about a foot of her colon which is a bit more than expected, but they were very hopeful that with the aggressive approach her doctor took, that they'd caught this early enough to have a great chance at curing her.
Around 2 PST, we got news that the surgery went well - the removal and reconstruction went according to plan. The only glitch is that they found the tumor to not be firm and round (which is the best case). Instead, the term the surgeon used was 'concave' meaning that the tumor had begun to collapse into itself and this is usually a less desirable sign. They did however remove everything as planned, along with tissue and lymph nodes to be tested further. They did indicate that Michelle will probably need some chemo, but the extent will be determined once the pathology reports come back. They have expedited the labs and so we're all hoping to get more news tomorrow. I will post if Mom is unable soon as I hear something.
I did speak with Michelle briefly. She's groggy and her throat hurts since they had to intubate her for the surgery. However, she sounded great for someone just a few hours out of major surgery. She'll be able to go on a liquid diet tomorrow which will hopefully start speeding up the recovery. She made sure to remind me to update the blog so everyone would be up to speed :) If you are reading this, let's be thankful she's overcome this one hurdle and hope and pray that they got everything they needed to get and what little chemo she will need will zap everything else! Keep thinking great thoughts and praying for the entire clan and she will beat this as we all know Michelle can! :)
Finally, I thought I'd educate myself a bit on her type of cancer, and thought I'd share a site with some quick facts...
http://www.cancerarchive.com/cancer-types/colon-cancer/what-is-sigmoid-colon-cancer
... and one with a ton of details...
http://www.patient.co.uk/showdoc/27000573/
P.S. - apologies for the lateness of this post. My phone turned itself off and I didn't realize until I really started to worry that Mom hadn't called, checked and found out that she'd called 2 hours earlier! I'll try not to fall down on my job again... :)
Around 12:30 (AZ/PST time), Michelle was in the operating room. The surgeons noted that they had to remove about a foot of her colon which is a bit more than expected, but they were very hopeful that with the aggressive approach her doctor took, that they'd caught this early enough to have a great chance at curing her.
Around 2 PST, we got news that the surgery went well - the removal and reconstruction went according to plan. The only glitch is that they found the tumor to not be firm and round (which is the best case). Instead, the term the surgeon used was 'concave' meaning that the tumor had begun to collapse into itself and this is usually a less desirable sign. They did however remove everything as planned, along with tissue and lymph nodes to be tested further. They did indicate that Michelle will probably need some chemo, but the extent will be determined once the pathology reports come back. They have expedited the labs and so we're all hoping to get more news tomorrow. I will post if Mom is unable soon as I hear something.
I did speak with Michelle briefly. She's groggy and her throat hurts since they had to intubate her for the surgery. However, she sounded great for someone just a few hours out of major surgery. She'll be able to go on a liquid diet tomorrow which will hopefully start speeding up the recovery. She made sure to remind me to update the blog so everyone would be up to speed :) If you are reading this, let's be thankful she's overcome this one hurdle and hope and pray that they got everything they needed to get and what little chemo she will need will zap everything else! Keep thinking great thoughts and praying for the entire clan and she will beat this as we all know Michelle can! :)
Finally, I thought I'd educate myself a bit on her type of cancer, and thought I'd share a site with some quick facts...
http://www.cancerarchive.com/cancer-types/colon-cancer/what-is-sigmoid-colon-cancer
... and one with a ton of details...
http://www.patient.co.uk/showdoc/27000573/
P.S. - apologies for the lateness of this post. My phone turned itself off and I didn't realize until I really started to worry that Mom hadn't called, checked and found out that she'd called 2 hours earlier! I'll try not to fall down on my job again... :)
Comments:
Young
Family said...
Thanks,
Sharon - I've been checking this thing all night wondering how things happened
and not wanting to bug anyone. I am ALWAYS up until at least 11p EST, so feel
free to call too.....and, I would let you wake me up anyway!
How quickly will they start chemo? Did they know that yet?
Definitely still praying and praying and praying and wondering how soon we should wait before we come out to help. Mom Whitehead - please let us know what we can do to help from MI!
Thanks and love to all!
Stephenie
How quickly will they start chemo? Did they know that yet?
Definitely still praying and praying and praying and wondering how soon we should wait before we come out to help. Mom Whitehead - please let us know what we can do to help from MI!
Thanks and love to all!
Stephenie
Hi all,
I wanted to thank Sharon for keeping you all updated. As you can imagine, it was a long, long day. But, Michelle came out of it with her humor intact.
At this point, we don't know when 1) she will be home, 2) when we can anticipate the pathology report, or 3) when chemo will start. In essence, we are still in the dark. I'm heading back to the hospital early tomorrow a.m. in the hopes that I can beat the doctors in so I can ask, ask and ask. As soon as we know anything, we will get the info to you.
Please continue sending your messages and comments! They have helped Michelle and me get through the last few days and will help keep us in smiles in the days to come. Love to all from the entire Hastings and Whitehead families!
Mom Whitehead
I wanted to thank Sharon for keeping you all updated. As you can imagine, it was a long, long day. But, Michelle came out of it with her humor intact.
At this point, we don't know when 1) she will be home, 2) when we can anticipate the pathology report, or 3) when chemo will start. In essence, we are still in the dark. I'm heading back to the hospital early tomorrow a.m. in the hopes that I can beat the doctors in so I can ask, ask and ask. As soon as we know anything, we will get the info to you.
Please continue sending your messages and comments! They have helped Michelle and me get through the last few days and will help keep us in smiles in the days to come. Love to all from the entire Hastings and Whitehead families!
Mom Whitehead
Comments:
Young
Family said...
So
- did you mean "beat them (doctors) in" as get there first or as
clobber them until they give you some answers! :)
Just looking for clarification.
Would it help to have one of us call the hospital on planned 2-minute intervals to push for answers?!?!? Yeah - probably not.....
Thanks for keeping us posted....
Stephenie
Just looking for clarification.
Would it help to have one of us call the hospital on planned 2-minute intervals to push for answers?!?!? Yeah - probably not.....
Thanks for keeping us posted....
Stephenie
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