Day 97, Year 7: Long Day . . . All is Fine
Date: Monday, February 13, 2012
Weather: Sunny, Windy, and Still Cold
Location: Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA
What a long day. We got up early and went to the Falmouth Hospital for Mark’s blood tests and then headed to Boston. Nothing took as long as we thought, so we arrived at Mass General early for a surgery that ended up happening later than scheduled. So we had lots of wait time. Mark’s surgery was scheduled for 1 pm and that means that you have to be there by 11 am. But the surgery didn’t get started until after 2:30 because the previous surgery in the OR took longer than expected. And then Mark’s urologist, Dr. Cutie, had to make a decision. The GreenLight laser machine that he was planning to use for the procedure malfunctioned. Instead of postponing the surgery, he decided to continue using the alternate technology which cuts the tissue out rather than vaporizing it with the laser. If the GreenLight laser machine had been working, the procedure would have been called a Photo-selective Vaporization of the Prostate (PVP) or a TURP laser. The exact same procedure when done with a tool called a Gyro, a resectoscope or lighted tube that cuts and cauterizes, is called a TURP or Transurethral Resection of the Prostate. I know this is more than you ever wanted to know about prostate surgery, but the researcher in me demands that I document the details. So stick with me just a little longer. After the surgery when I talked with Dr. Cutie and he explained the switch from laser to cutting tool, I was very concerned. But he said that in the end he was glad that he was forced to use the Gyro as he had to remove more tissue that he anticipated. Evidently there was more obstruction from the prostate than he expected and he was able to do the job more thoroughly with the cutting tool. My next question to him was this. When you enter the body with a tool through the urethra, how do you get to the prostate to remove the tissue? I have looked at diagram after diagram and just couldn’t figure this out. Well, what they do is actually go right through the urethra, basically eliminating it where it passes through the prostate gland. After the surgery, they insert a catheter and the urethra immediately starts to regenerate itself around the catheter. With laser surgery the catheter can be removed the next day. With the traditional TURP, the catheter must stay in for four days after surgery. So Mark will be released tomorrow but will return on Friday to have the catheter removed. At that point the urethra will continue the rebuilding process for another couple of weeks. Pretty amazing. I must say I was a bit upset when I learned that the procedure was not done with a laser, but Mark seemed to take the news in stride. Unlike me, he is not one to micro-manage. He figures you choose a good surgeon and then let him make the decisions. And Dr. Cutie is very optimistic that this procedure is going to restore Mark’s ability to urinate normally without the aid of a catheter. Mark is extremely hopeful as well, but we won’t know for sure if everything is going to work normally for a couple of weeks. I guess patience is once again the name of the game.
An hour and a half after the surgery ended, Mark was in his room, totally alert, and asking for food. He looked and felt great. He was in a normal hospital double room this time with only a view of another building. It was definitely not the pent house suite we had after his colon cancer surgery, but Mark didn’t care as long as they would give him food. Well, they wouldn’t. At least not for another hour or so. In the meantime, I walked to the nearby Whole Foods to get dinner for myself and for him. When I returned the nurse said he could have food, so he ate the macaroni and cheese, green beans, and chicken breast I brought him and then ate the turkey, mashed potatoes, and broccoli on the hospital tray. He was going to eat the fresh fruit and yogurt I brought him as well as the apple crumble on the hospital tray later in the evening after I left. So obviously anyone who can eat that much just three hours after surgery must not feel too bad! Mark will be released from the hospital tomorrow, but not until he has one more little procedure. The port-o-cath that will be used to infuse the chemotherapy drugs will be inserted into his chest before he leaves the hospital. We had hoped it could be done today, but the coordination was just not possible. At whatever point Mark is finally released tomorrow, we will return to Sue and John Reed’s home for a Valentine’s Day dinner and to spend the night. If all is well on Wednesday morning, we will then drive back to the Cape.
During the afternoon I got a call from our friend Lynda Kaufman in South Carolina. She and husband Lee had attended my sister-in-law Conda’s memorial service today at the Little River Methodist Church. The first memorial service was in West Virginia on Saturday, but because Conda had been so very much a part of the church in Little River since moving there only a few years ago, the second service was planned. Lynda said the service was very impressive and that it was obvious that many people cared deeply for Conda. We so wish we could have been there, but as my nephew Tommy said, our job right now is to take care of Mark and get him back on the wellness list. A year ago I would never have dreamed that today I would be so familiar with Mass General Hospital that no one even has to give me directions to get me from one section of the hospital to another. It’s a wonderful, life-saving institution, but by this time next year we’re hoping we are ready to wean ourselves and get on with life. We just bought the newest cruising guide to the Bahamas. It should make great reading during those three hour chemo sessions every two weeks for the next six months.
