We were told to arrive at St Mary's Hospital, Mayo Clinic, at 5:45am. We arrive at 5:30am. It's still dark outside and slightly drizzly. By 6:10am we are in a side room and Andrew is being prepared for surgery. Gown, white stockings, and non-slip slipper socks. People come and go, blood pressure, breathing 'toys' to be used post op to prevent pneumonia. Andrew and I talk about what's ahead. We both know that we are here in America because the doctor here gave us the best option of having a neo bladder which is what Andrew is desperate for. We also both know that it really depends on what they find when they open him up and there is every chance that he will be fitted with an illeal conduit (bag worn on the outside). They had performed, once again, all the scans yesterday. All it confirmed was that the chemo had very slightly shrunk the tumours but there were still there in the bladder - many of them.
We kissed goodbye at 7:00am and they whisked him off to surgery and me off to a Patients Waiting Room. They taught me how to use the big screen - a device that showed me exactly where Andrew was at any given time. A nurse introduced herself and said she would be our 'go between' and that she would keep me posted at regular 2 hour intervals on how the operation was going. I plugged in my laptop and made use of the WIFI - one eye on the silly game I was playing and the other on the screen. I knew it was going to be at least an 8 hour operation as the Doctor had agreed yesterday to bring in another specialist doctor to perform a keyhole gall bladder removal prior to the bladder removal operation. Gall stones had been Andrew's original complaint and the only reason he had gone along to our local GP in the first place. It was then that they saw the gallstone and also the microscopic blood in the urine. So, in a way, I was very thankful for those horrid little stones!
At 10:00am the nurse came along and woke me up (still jet lagged of course) to tell me that the gall bladder operation was completed and that they had now started on the bladder and prostate removal. Meantime, I was rooted to the spot. I dare not even move off to the cafeteria in case I missed something going on, on that screen. They had blue-coated volunteers there coming around offering complimentary soft drinks or coffee/tea/chocolate so I made do with that and the cereal bar that I'd brought with me from home. At about 2:45pm a nurse phoned the room and asked for me. She told me that Dr Karnes had asked her to call me to tell me that he was now building the new bladder. I sat back down. It took a full 10 minutes before it dawned on me that this meant he was getting a neo-bladder and not the bag. I cried. I am getting quite emotional now just thinking about it. How very kind of the doctor who knew our concerns, to think of me and let me know. I tried to phone Andrew's mom and dad in Canada to share the news but they were out and I had to leave a bit of an emotional message - not sure they could even tell what I said through all the tears.
At 4pm Doctor Karnes came to see me. He took me to a private room and told me that the cancer had not penetrated the bladder wall, had not entered the viscorous fat tissue and all the lymph nodes had proved negative so no cancer there either.(They actually removed 46 lymph nodes I learnt later). He had been able to go ahead and make the neo bladder and everything had gone according to the text book. He was well pleased and I could have hugged him!
At 7:30 in the evening they finally bought Andrew to his room. It had been 12 1/2 hours since I said goodbye. He looked amazingly good even though he had wires and tubes and bits of electronic machinery attached to every orrifice. He was still groggy but able to make jokes. He had been in quite a bit of pain in recovery which was why he was delayed in getting back to his room. They set him up with his push button pain relief and after a little while he was as comfortable as could be in the circumstances.
He knew about his new neo-bladder as it was the first thing he asked about when he came round. I told him the good news that Dr Karnes had given me and we hugged each other with joy. All he has to do now is get better.....
... more tomorrow..
love from an elated and very relieved
Trish
x
