Day 59, Year 7: Long Surgery, Positive Results
Date: Friday, January 6, 2012, 10 pm
Weather: Skiff of Snow Overnight; Today Moderating, 35-40 degrees F
Location: Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts
Mark’s 8 am surgery got delayed until 9 am, I think partly due to some
difficulty in putting an epidural his back to deal with pain medication
after the surgery. Once the surgery began, we got hourly reports that Mark
was doing fine, but the surgery went on and on. After five and a half
hours, we got the word that he was out of the operating room. It was 3
o’clock when the doctor came down to the waiting room to talk with us and
both Heather and I felt like the news was good. The cancer has not
metastasized to other organs. It was a large tumor and had gone through the
inner lining of the colon and reached the outer wall, but had not punched
through. That was good news. But because it was so close to the wall, it
is possible that the lymph nodes along the top of the colon could be
cancerous. We won’t know this until the pathology reports are back and that
takes five to seven working days beginning after this weekend. So we have a
bit of a wait. If cancer is found in the lymph nodes, chemotherapy is the
next step. If it has not spread to the lymph nodes, then the surgery is the
cure. So we’ll keep hoping for that. Dr. Sylla explained that Mark’s CEA
level is very low, less than 2, and that is an indicator that this was a
slow-growing, not very aggressive tumor. CEA stands for cardinoembryonic
antigen which is a protein associated with colon and rectal cancer and not
normally present in blood levels of people who don’t have cancer. But
Mark’s low level is a good indicator.
Heather came up from the Cape to spend the day with me which I appreciated
tremendously. Unfortunately, she didn’t get to see her dad before she had
to leave to catch the 5 pm bus home. The doctor thought we would get to go
see him in recovery, but that wasn’t allowed until 4 pm and by that time
they said he was being moved to his room and we would have to wait and see
him there. That move took way over an hour so it was a good thing Heather
didn’t wait around. Linda Stuart and her son Garrett also came down from
Concord today and took us out to lunch. What a treat. By the end of the
afternoon I was feeling very pampered. And now it is my turn to pamper
Mark. Mark is in good spirits and seems to be in very competent hands here,
so I am going to go back to Sue and John’s tonight to get a good night’s
rest and return in the morning.
Mark is on the 22nd floor of the hospital in a unit called Phillips House
and he is in a private room. We didn’t ask for that, but it is quite nice.
The floors are wood and the wall to wall window overlooks the Charles River
and much of Boston and Cambridge. I was in the waiting room on this floor
for sundown and it was a deep, gorgeous red. Red sails at night, sailors
delight. I think it is a good omen that Mark is going to sail right through
this. He is tired but has already been up walking around with the help of
the nurse. Now we just have to watch that he doesn’t get too feisty!
For anyone who would like to call Mark, his hospital number is 617-724-6276.
I think he’ll be back on his computer by tomorrow, so you can also send him
an email. We very much appreciate all of you who wrote with your good
wishes. Thank you for being there for us.
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| From 120106 Day 59 MGH, Boston, MA–Red Sails on the Sunset |
