I’ve been having some technical difficulties accessing the Intranet, so I apologize for not being able to update the blog yesterday. Anyway here is the news, from what I understand from Eric who spent the day at the hospital yesterday:

The procedure was pretty long, about 4 hours for the actual surgery and then another hour or so to sew things up. So what was done – it seems that the colon tumor was already killed off by the radiation/chemo, and only some dead tissue was left (yay!). The remaining tissue was sent off to the lab to be analyzed. The colostomy was closed off so that the this part of the colon can “rest” and recover from the radiation, which left some scarring behind. A new ostomy was created, lower on the body, called an ileostomy which will take over the tasks of the colostomy for now. The eventual goal is that in the future the ileostomy will be reversed and her internal digestive systems reconnected, back to their normally functioning state. However this process will take some time, maybe 6 – 12 months.

The colostomy had recently developed a hernia, which the doctor was able to repair during the surgery. Sara will be happy about this, as the hernia was uncomfortable but initially the doctor didn’t think she would be able to fix it during the current surgery.

For some reason Sara didn’t get a room until towards the end of the day, so Eric said she was very tired and a bit “out of it” in the evening. Unlike the previous surgery in January (liver surgery), Sara didn’t get a spinal block this time so the painkillers were making her a bit woozy. Sara’s sister-in-law stayed with her last night and Eric went back to the hospital this morning. We should get more detailed information from the doctor today, as apparently the report was a bit rushed yesterday as she had other surgeries to attend to. So it may turn out that some of what I’ve written may be slightly amended later, but the main message is that everything is going well! In fact the doctors say that they can’t really explain the incredible turn-around Sara has had since her initial diagnosis about 1 year ago. I’m sure that a large part of her success is due to her fighting spirit and pro-active attitude regarding chemo, radiation and powering through all of the debilitating side effects. Another significant part is also due to the incredible support she has received from her family and friends, so here’s to sending out a collective “thanks!” to all of you :).

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