6/1/2018 - The Surgery Edition
Published by Kevin Moore,
We wanted to pay a tribute to all of the wonderful people that were involved in the surgery/recovery back in April as well as provide everyone with an update on what’s next.
First, the surgery. It was more than what we expected, not that it was possible to know what was going to happen. We were excited to get to surgery since we had worked for over a year to get to that point. We had told our surgeon, Dr. Weiss, to do whatever he had to do in order to remove the tumor. We are so blessed that these surgeons at Johns Hopkins are the best in the world. Ultimately, 80% of my pancreas was removed along with a portion of my stomach, the spleen and 15 lymph nodes. There was lots of arterial involvement and two liters of blood lost, but the surgeons (Dr. Weiss and Dr. Wolfgang) did it and we are very blessed and grateful that they took chances.
We were in ICU for 4 days and then moved to a regular room. Our hospital stay ended up being 18 days total. When we finally got home, I still had a drain in my abdomen which was removed three weeks later at the post-op appointment. Dr. Weiss was ecstatic at how well I was doing. The incision was healing great and I was able to do 1-2 mile walks everyday. I was finally cleared to drive but no heavy lifting for a number of months.
Next stage (we refer to it as Stage 3). We met with our "best in the world" oncologist, Dr. Laheru, and we all agreed that the next steps should be more chemotherapy just in case there are any stray cells. He believes that 4 more rounds (8 infusions) should be enough. After doing 35 infusions, another 8 will be a piece of cake....hopefully. By the time you read this blog, we will be done more than half of the infusions.
Now that you are up to date, we wanted to share our surgery experience with you including pictures of some of the best medical professionals in the world and our wonderful friends and family. You know us: we take pictures with almost anyone we can. Unfortunately, we didn’t get everyone during our stay at JH but we did pretty good.
Doing laps a day or two after surgery.
Roz, our infusion technician, visited us once or twice a day. Such a loving and remarkable woman. 💕
Allison, our wonderful nurse in ICU. She had the good pain drugs - I vaguely remember her. 🙂
Our surgeon, Dr. Weiss. Simply one of the best in the world!
Such a great team!
Kevin, our concierge during infusions. Folks like him, taking the time to pay us a visit, really made a difference.
Allison and Kim, our infusion nurses. We can't say enough about them and how nice it was to see them during our hospital stay.
Mikayla, our recovery nurse. She was our first nurse in recovery and really made us feel at ease.
Brandon, our phlebotomy technician. We loved it when he would pop in for a visit!
Dr. Le, the facilitator of the clinical trial and Cara, our PA.
An unexpected visit but we were so happy they took time out of their busy schedule to give us hugs and congratulate us on a successful surgery.
Jaz, our infusion technician. Another one of Hopkin's finest and a blessing to us. 💖
Caitlyn and Allison, members of the surgical team. Their positivity and caring really helped us stay focused on recovering. We shared many heartfelt conversations that got us over our down moments.
Rhonda, the chaplain. Many wonderful visits and inspirational conversations.
Felix, our recovery nurse. Another example of the best in the business.
His experience is unmatched.
Barb, and her "Cheer Up dog", Molly, arrived just as we heard about a discharge day.
It was a very happy moment!
Two more of our wonderful recovery nurses, Ty and Olivia, saying goodbye as we were heading out. As you can tell, we shared lots of laughs during our stay. 😄
Reza, our recovery technician. Got to say goodbye as we were leaving.
Such a happy and positive member of the JH recovery team.
And we had visits from so many friends and family! We apologize for not getting pics of everyone (some days were just not picture days 😩)
Us. Cancer doesn’t make a marriage stronger, it tests the strength of the commitment we made so many years ago in front of God, family and friends. When I struggle, Kim is there to lift me. When I cry, she is there to hold me. When I do well, it is because she is beside me. With all that she has endured, I consider her my hero. 💖
Our beautiful kids, Nathan, Emily and Ryan. Ryan had the privilege of celebrating his 17th birthday at JH. We celebrated in recovery and had a good time! It was a good distraction during a long stay. We are so proud of how they have handled the stress of the past 18 months.
Fayne and Bonnie, my wonderful brother and sister-in-law. Always there and always supporting us. Fayne even pops in on some infusion days to hang out!
My beautiful sisters, Susette and Debbie. Susette, a cancer survivor herself, has been there the whole time holding our hands and keeping us positive and Debbie has supported us from afar with kind words and prayers. We have grown closer as a family throughout this and would not be at this point if it wasn’t for them.
Kim’s sister, Dawn. This was taken when I just got home because she was there 24x7 in ICU and it was sometimes hard to get pics, if you can imagine. The love and support she has given our family during all of this can never be repaid. She has been such a pivotal part of our journey. 💖
Debbie, who just happens to be a charge nurse at JH pediatric oncology, visited us in ICU. It was great to see a close friend for support right after surgery.
Our boys, Ryan and Nathan, came up with Amy, our next door neighbor. She has been one of our spiritual coaches in this journey - her and her family have been a great comfort to us. 💕
Christi and Sam, our longtime friends. They have supported us in so many ways since this started and have been a pivotal part of our journey. One day I will get a pic of my HPE support team and update this. Their support through all of this has been nothing short of tremendous!
Our daughter, Emily, who has had to do a lot growing up during all of this. Her smile and happiness is truly a blessing!
Adele and Barry, our partners in this fight and now close friends. Barry is in the same clinical and is doing outstanding! This is a great example of finding something wonderful in the midst of a crappy situation.
Tim and Mary Ellen. God, this one is tough. Tim had pancreatic cancer also. We met as they first started treatments and we became good friends during his struggle. Tim passed away in May and we will be forever touched by his positive attitude and love of life. We think of him often and we know he’s up there with our support angels pushing us forward. We will be friends with Mary Ellen always. ❤️
Paul and Kathy, old friends from our days at DEC and Compaq. We hadn’t seen each other in over 20 years but we’ve always stayed in touch. Paul got to hang out with me while I did the "grape juice test" to see if there was a hole in my stomach. 😀
Our friend, Arnold. He was on the clinical also and had surgery about six months earlier. He’s doing terrific and has been such a positive influence in our fight. Another shining example of the good in a bad situation.
Our close friend, Denise. She always said, from day one, that we would rock this cancer crap. Her positivity is one of the reasons we were able push ahead and get to this point. 💕
And, of course, none of this would be possible without our home support group. They were there the whole time taking care of our kids and animals, making food, providing transportation, assisting at work, or just being there for company. Thanks for everyone’s help and prayers then, now and going forward!
It was great to finally be home!
🌈💖💐
