Sandy and Jon arrived at City of Hope at 6 am this morning to take care of pre-op issues – important things like paying the co-pay – and other items. Interestingly, the surgery was a little late getting started due to a disaster preparedness drill at the hospital itself.
By 8:30 Sandy was wheeled into the operating room after saying her last-minute goodbyes.
By 1:30 in the afternoon, a nurse emerged to tell Jon that they were ‘half done’ with the surgery and were flipping her over to do the other side of her neck, as they were working laterally on each side of her neck. By 4:30 the surgery was complete, and the surgeon told Jon that he removed 80-90% of the tumor in Sandy’s neck and implanted that cage-like device they talked about to support her neck. The surgeon indicated the tumor was larger than expected, approximately 2” by 1” and had pretty well deteriorated the C5 vertebrae.
She was in some pain, described as a ‘7’ on a 10 scale when Jon saw her. She was put in ICU as they were out of regular rooms, and she’ll evidently be moved as soon as a bed becomes available.
It has been a long day for the family, and we continue to be thankful for your prayers and good wishes.
