The RPLND surgery

Day 1:

Wow, Dan has been through a lot in the last 2 days!  Yesterday my dad got us to the hospital before 6am and Dan's parents had driven from Idaho and surprisingly beat us there, to see Dan and be with him as much as possible.  Dan agreed to be apart of two studies during his surgery that will bring better care and treatment to others in the future.  They just collected some blood and extra tissues that would have been thrown out anyway.  Surgery began right on schedule at 7:30am.

The whole surgery lasted for 6 1/2 hours and every two hours or so, I'd get a phone call from Dan's nurse letting me know that he was doing good and that they were still working on him.  The last hour was the hardest to wait for him because we were so anxious to hear that it was done and then see him.  The doctor came out after the surgery to let me know how everything went, and he said that everything went well, Dan did good and it was uneventful, nothing went wrong. That was so good to hear that his body didn't have a hard time with everything.  He said that he took out a lot of tumors (sounded like more than he was expecting), and that there were several larger ones, and that they had grown since the CT scan.  He said that as far as the big ones go, they look like the same Teratoma Cancer.  We will know more from the pathology on the cancer in about a week to shed some more light on if that is the only cancer or if there are also different kinds in there.  The doctor also let me know that he was able to spare two major nerves without compromising on the cancer removal, that some tumors just peeled away from those nerves.  For recovery, he said Dan would be pretty out of it for day 1 and day 2 he would be very sore.  They wanted him up and standing and walking on day 2 to avoid blood clots, even though it would be very painful.  The doctor said he'd be in the hospital 4-5 days.  He also talked about how if the cancer is all Teratoma and his cancer markers return to normal after surgery, then Dan would be checked on with blood tests and ct scans every couple months and then start lengthening the amount of time between visits if his body stays clear of tumors.  And if there are other cancers, and cancer markers do not return to normal, then chemotherapy will begin a month or two after surgery, basically after he recovers.  I am hopeful that the surgery is all he needs.  We should be able to have a post surgery check up with his doctor before we come back to Idaho.  The doctor and surgical team did a great job!

After talking to the doctor, we had to wait two more hours while Dan was in a recovery room and waking up from the anesthesia.  At about 4:30pm we were finally allowed to see Dan!  He was pretty aware when he saw us (although I doubt he remembers much of that time because of the medication), he was his very same humorous self, loving an audience, and knowing his stitching site was awesome because it was on him- and of course he is awesome.  :)

He was very tired after a while and had a very dry mouth, but no liquids were allowed still.  My dad and I left to go home around 6 and Dan's parents stayed a little longer.  The nurse said they would try to help him stand at 10pm since he was so tired.

Day 2:

Dan's parents went to visit Dan in the morning and found out from him that they tried several times during the night to get him to stand but each time he even lifted his head he started dry heaving, he was very nauseated from the surgery or heavy medications.  He has stitches about 9-10 inches in length on his abdomen so it is excruciatingly painful to vomit! They tried 3 different pain meds to fix the nausea and then gave him a patch behind his ear, maybe the patch helped a bit, but when I got there at noon today, and they tried to sit him up again, I saw him dry heave again and in so much pain.  He slept most of the time I was there, still very tired!  The Physical Therapist came in to try and help him move, but found how sick he felt and suggested cool cloths on is face and that every hour they raise his bed up a little and allow him time to adjust to it.  Dan also stopped pushing his pain medicine button, and when I left around 3pm he hadn't pushed it for more medicine for an hour. Dan's parents are staying with him all night tonight.

  It was hard to see Dan struggling today, and it seemed like there wouldn't be progress towards the goal of getting him moving.  Before 5pm Dan's mom texted me letting me know the Physical Therapists came back to Dan's room and got him sitting, standing, and able to move into a chair!  That was so relieving to see the progress and they sent me a picture of him sitting in a chair.  I loved it, and I think we were all relieved! They said he looked so much better, and was in good spirits!  Then an hour later, I got a text that Dan was walking the loop around the nurses station!  The PT wanted him to walk to the door sometime tonight, but he did well with that and so the nurse kept walking him out the door.  Then they approved him to have ice chips and that made him a happy guy!  Because of all the moving, naturally Dan needed to push the medication button afterwards. The doctor had said it would be so painful the first time walking, but get a little better each time after that.
We are all so happy of his accomplishments tonight!

Rachelle