Surgeons and Smiles

(Forgive the repost from Facebook and email...it's been a long day!)

Happiness is....seeing your husband's surgeons walk out of the operating room with big smiles on their faces. And they hugged me. I love these guys!



All in all, Frederic's surgery today went very well. A little more than
5 hours, they managed to save the better part of the kidney, removing
the tumor completely. Though we won't have final word until the
pathology report comes in, the pathologist who was in the surgery said
he was pretty convinced it was a kidney-specific tumor. That's a good
thing, as it means it's not metastasis from the testicular cancer and
treatable completely by removing it.


Next they went on to the lymph node dissection, which also went very
well. They were very grateful he's so thin, making it much easier for
them to see everything clearly and work quickly. Again we'll have to
wait for the final pathology report (7 days), but from their
observations, they think at most one node may have testicular cancer
(this is good).

The nurse kindly reported to me every hour during surgery how it was
going. Frederic handled it all very well. He's worn out and feeling a
little cruddy tonight, but a visit from the two munchkins cheered him up
(and if you can believe it, Angelina *sat still* in a chair in the
hospital room while visiting). Recovery will take awhile and he has
multiple tubes sticking out of him, but the first (or I guess the
second) hurdle has been overcome.

Thanks again to all for your prayers and thoughts, and help. Two
families took our kids for the day, and meals have been arriving for
which we're all very grateful!