Doing OK...

Hi VP's...well it's 10:45 pm and Brenda and I are up in room P1130. They have her comfortable and her pain is under control so all is proceeding OK. You know how post-surgery goes...very groggy...pain...aches....tubes....drains....beeps from machines...UGH!!! Bren's stomach is upset but they are on it and all that's come out when she thinks she has to throw-up is air from her tummy. She's sleeping now and I'm back on duty and will help watch her through the night. It certainly takes a village!!!

Here's the info from Dr. Gillenwater. She came out about 6:00PM and said that the surgery had taken longer than expected because of all the scar tissue in Brenda's neck...it made the surgery a little more difficult, but all the "bad boys" are OUT!!! The fantastic news is that when she went looking around her sinus cavity she didn't see any cancer or suspicious "things" in there. She placed the nasal stints and hopefully that will help her breathe better. They want her to try and keep this device in about 2 weeks in hopes that the nasal passage will heal open before the stints come out. They also put some stuff in there to try to retard any further growth of the scar tissue. Keep your fingers crossed.

Dr. Gillenwater couldn't tell if the lymph nodes and tissue she removed were cancerous or just dead but still full of hot tissue (from the radiation.) All the stuff they removed will go to pathology and hopefully in several days, we'll get the results. Still need all those positive thoughts and wonderful prayers rolling in gang!!

Paula and I got to go back to the PACU to see Bren around 7:00 and she looked amazingly well. I was envisioning that she would be really swollen in the face and neck and she wasn't swollen much at all. She has incisions that run from the base of her ears around the fold in her neck maybe a good 5 inches on each side. There are drain tubes on each side and the incision is closed with disposable sutures with stiry-strips (sp?) all along the incision site. She's draining stuff from her neck and the doc said that the tubes could come out once the output was 30 cc's or less in a 24 hour period. Since the right side was more involved, that is draining the most. Needless to say...they won't be coming out tomorrow!!

So friends...Brenda is good and now sleeping comfortably. I'm about ready to start napping here in this recliner. I'm pooped! Thank you all so very much for all your prayers, love, concern, and well wishes. Paula...thank you soooooo very much for keeping me company and teaching me all about the ins and outs of Mafia Wars and sharing your "Mafia Wars Gang list" with me. It's so addicting!! ha! You were just a sweetie for sitting so long with me...it really helped to pass the time.

If everything goes well and Brenda is doing OK...they said they might release her tomorrow...YEA!! Just in time to watch football on TV this weekend. Watch the blog and I'll give you pictures and another update tomorrow...it's time to get some shut-eye!!

Sleep tight. The cancer is out of her!!! That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

Dee and sleeping, cancer-free Brenda!