Tuesday, October 19, 2010

"Negative" is a wonderful word.

We just talked to Dr. Hunter. Mike's out of surgery, everything went fine. The margins - the bladder tissue around the tumor - were negative (as in, no signs of cancer), as were the lymph samples they took.

It's hard to convey the sense of relief that went through all of us with those simple words. There's no sign of cancer in the remaining bladder tissue, no complications during the surgery, negative negative negative.

The tumor was about 3cm, and Mike only lost about 10% of his bladder.

This is, honestly, the best outcome we could hope for.

*update*

While I was typing the above, a nurse came and got us; Mike now has a room of his own so we're moving our camp. He'll be in post-op monitoring for about 90 minutes (or so; it varies a bit) and then will be moving to his own room. Dr. Hunter is expecting that Mike will spend two nights here and then go home, but we'll see how things go - if he's unusually quick to recover he could be out of here Wednesday, or it could take until Friday until he's able to walk, eat and has the post-operative pain under control.

- Kevin

20 comments:

Kelly McCullough said...

WOOHOO!

John Slade said...

YAY YAY YAY

Emily said...

awesome awesome awesome awesome awesome. i envision a postcard for karen saying "wish you were here".

Modhran said...

O wonderful, wonderful, most wonderful wonderful, and yet again wonderful, and after that, out of all whooping!

lonerock said...

Yipiee!!!!!

Jodyth said...

I'm so glad. See you home soon, Mike!

Anonymous said...

Raise the flag! Break out the champagne! So happy for you all. Message for Marilyn - Take care of yourself. I mean it. See you soon. Wendy A.

Anonymous said...

What Ken said.

I am so thankful and happy it went well.

Rachael

Wendy said...

Oh fabulous news! Tears of joy run down my face.

Oh and they'll want him to poop before he leaves too :) Everything gets all stopped when you're on those amazing drugs.

Love to all.
Wendy

Deborah in MN said...

Thanks for the good news. What a relief.

Anonymous said...

Oh frabjous day - callooh callay! Wonderful news.

Anna Bliss

Colleen said...

So happy for Mike and the family!!! Negative can be such a wonderful word. Hugs.

Anonymous said...

Dr. Hunter's first words to his family were something to the effect of, "Everything went well and he's fine," which brought an absolute gust of sighs of relief. We were able to see him later for just a couple of minutes, and he was smiling and nodding -- but he may not remember any of that. I'll see him again tomorrow (Wednesday), and maybe be able to spend some time with him. It looks like he has more family and friends in attendance than most of the other patients -- which really says a lot about him.
--Dad

Anonymous said...

Woohoo!
Yanaba

Anonymous said...

Congrats, Germany says WOOHOO!!!

SHD

Anonymous said...

And a MAJOR "Tillykke" from Denmark as well! Now for a speedy recovery and no recurrences!!

Laura said...

What great news! I am so happy to hear that it was such a good outcome. Let the healing begin!

Anonymous said...

Whew!

M said...

Thanks, all. I really appreciate it and I look forward to talking to everyone individually soon enough. I'm still tired and have a little work to do before I'm through all of this, but It seems that the worst is definitely behind me.

Tamara Legler said...

Amazing News! I'm so happy for you - its going to all get better from here! Uphill all the way!

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