Good News

We went to see Dr. Mitchell, the cardiologist, today.  We spoke for quite a while with his Nurse Practitioner first.  Finally Dr. Mitchell came in.  The first thing he said was, "You are anemic, I can see it in your face." Oh, 'hi', good to see you too Dr. Mitchell.  :)

Dr. Mitchell had good things to say though.  He is not overly concerned about Trent's tachycardia (rapid heart rate) because there is nothing really that they can pin it too.  There are so many things going on that could all cause tachycardia.  He believes Trent's heart is healthy and that once he is healed his heart rate will return to Trent's normal.  He also said that Trent may have a little faster heart rate than most but that might be his 'normal'.  I am not sure that is the case because in all the treatments for the last two years, we have never noticed a fast heart rate.  But, it is certainly possible that after all the Trent has been through, especially losing a lung, that his heart would beat faster, permanently.

The dose of Metoprolol is going to stay the same for now.  We are anticipating weaning Trent off of it in the future, maybe six months or so.  While we were at the office, Trent's oxygen was only at .5 L/hr and although he had to stop and rest, it wasn't killing him to walk around.  He was tired by the time we got home and not feeling too great.  I think we need to work on the anemia and hopefully that will perk him up some.

Trent has really been trying to do everything he can to get better.  Yesterday he got on the stationary bike for 1/2 hour, twice.  He wasn't really pushing himself at all, just going through the motion, but I was very happy for that.  Each day he seems a little bit better.  He has moved himself downstairs now and sleeps in his own bed.  That happened a few days ago and although I was reluctant, I couldn't be happier.  Me, Trent, and nineteen pillows don't fit in a queen bed very easily.  Our king bed is so much better and we have both slept much more.  The last few days he has only had his breakthrough pain medicine once every 8-10 hours.  That is so much better than before!  His incision, while it is big and ugly, is healing beautifully.

Dr. Mitchell and his assistant were particularly impressed that he was doing so well after such a big surgery.  Thursday marks four weeks since the surgery.  The last month has been difficult but I think we are almost able to see that there might be an end to all of this ugliness.  We are anxious to hear exactly what the next step in the plan will be and get it going.

Been a Rough Couple of Days

It is sometimes hard to remember that after surgery it is not just getting better.  There are good days and bad days.  Then it is even harder to remember that after a surgery as huge as Trent's was that the progress is veerryy slow.  We are dealing with some mental/emotional issues and that takes its toll on us.

Trent is getting around pretty well now.  He went from using a walker for a few days, to a crutch for a couple days, and has been using his cane for the last week.  He can get to the bathroom unassisted and shower mostly by himself.  I have been carefully washing his back with antibacterial surgical scrub to make sure we don't have any problems at the incision site.  It is all healing nicely but is really tender still.

We have also been monitoring his vitals and paying close attention to his heart rate.  I had noticed that his heart rate was staying pretty consistent in the 120's but occasionally would jump to 140.  That is higher than I had hoped it would be after restarting the Metoprolol after leaving the hospital.  Tuesday night I decided I would call Jan at Dr. Carr's office and check in on what "normal" is at this point in the recovery.  Wednesday morning before I got a chance to call Jan, Jenn, Dr. Carr's nurse, called to check on Trent.  I told her about the heart rate and asked about giving Trent some anti anxiety medicine again.  When we left the hospital Dr. Carr told me not to give it to Trent but didn't say why.  I assumed it was because he had done pretty well without it during his stay.  Jenn relayed the info/questions on to Kelly Nagasawe, Dr. Carr's associate (Dr. Carr is out of the country right now).  Somewhere along the line the info got mixed up.  I got a call from a very concerned Jan, wondering why Trent was not being rushed to the Huntsman if his heart rate was 160.  Thank goodness that was not the case!

Dr. Carr wanted Trent to get some labs done to see if he needed blood, which would raise his heart rate.  We had to make the trek down to the medical center to have that done.  Trent was pretty iffy that day and the journey was hard.  Thankfully, the labs came back looking okay.  Really, most of his results were just barely outside the normal range which is not to shabby after all he has been through.  After a call to Trent's cardiologist, it was decided to double the dose of Metoprolol for a few days and see what that did.  I was also told not to give him any anti anxiety meds because those can be sedative and with only one lung, that is not such a smart idea.  So we have been using oils and soft music to try to keep him calm.  It has been a tough go though, the gravity of what he has been through is starting to hit Trent.  As for myself, I try as hard as I can not to think about it.  Too scary and dramatic, so not the life I thought we were in for.

Today his heart rate is much better at 110 but I am still hoping it will get closer to normal.  We see Dr. Mitchell on Tuesday.  Hopefully Trent is feeling better by then.

A Memorable Father's Day Gift

This was the much anticipated surprise! I was so excited to give this to Trent...I had it done before Mother's Day and had to keep it quiet forever! As soon as he opened the cover he started bawling. It was perfect and I caught it all on video too.

Click here to view this photo book larger

I had all the kids write letters to Trent on the pages opposite their pictures.  Then we all got together and came up with 10 fun memories of Trent for the last page.  Good times, good times...

Happy Father's Day!

I have been excited for Father's Day since waaaayyy before Mother's Day.  I love surprises and I have one this year that Trent is going to LOVE!

Trent is the most amazing father.  Before cancer he physically worked his "fingers to the bone" to provide for our family.  He worked hard to give our kids the fun things they deserve like this...

The playhouse Trent built for our kids at our house in Providence.

and this...

Disney 2008

and this...

Disneyland 2012

and this....

10/2011

Since cancer he has worked so hard each day to physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually survive.  He is an amazing man and we are so lucky that he is ours!  His kids adore him, they love and respect him, and I would do anything for him.  You have to be someone pretty special to be loved like that.  Happy Father's Day Trent! WE LOVE YOU!

Too Much for One Day

Yesterday was not my finest day.  I woke up grumpy again because my sleep was interrupted several times again.  How did I ever have five kids?  You would think I would be used to this by now.

When Trent woke up he was having one of his "Did we do the right thing?" moments.  He is still sore and tired and struggles to breathe sometimes.  He worries that he will be like this forever.  I keep having to remind him he is only two weeks out from losing a LUNG!  He is going to be sore, he is going to be tired, and yes, it is going to be hard to breathe sometimes.  But guess what? HE WILL GET BETTER!!!!

I was not really up to the task of being the strong one that morning and it set me off on the wrong foot.  I was feeling added pressure because yesterday was Megan's birthday and I didn't have the shopping done for her yet.  She told me she wanted to make her own birthday desert but at 4:30 she changed her mind.  So I was frantically trying to get everything done and get to the store to have everything finished so it didn't all look like an afterthought.  AARRGGHH.  Not my finest day.  I am pretty sure I didn't smile all day long.  Again, AARRGGHH.

Trent could see that I was struggling and kept trying to smile at me, tell me thank you, and that I am beautiful. Nice gestures but I was not receiving them too well.  After dinner I took some of the kids to Smith's to get prescriptions and a movie we could all watch together.  I saw a friend there that I have known since kindergarten.  As we were talking she said, "I couldn't do what you are doing."  My reply was, "Well, no one ever gave me a choice."  She immediately fired back with, "You had the choice, a long time ago!"  She was referring to the pre-existence.  And she is right.  I did have a choice.  I really don't think I signed up for dealing with cancer, who would?  But I do know that I agreed to be tested.  I knew life was going to be tough and I agreed to do it.  I had a choice then, and I have a choice now.

Today is going to be a better day because I choose to make it that way.  Cancer has taken so many things from us, I won't let it take my happiness too.  Thanks for the reminder Mandy, I needed that!

Settling In

We arrived home to a WELCOME HOME AND TO THE LAND OF NED banner the kids made, and an empty house.  That was just right.  Trent got all settled into a comfy chair just as the kids were getting home from church.  After the travel he was pretty sore and tired but in good spirits.

Since then he has been pretty tired.  We both are.  My mom and dad and the kids moved his bed upstairs so he doesn't have to tackle the 14 step staircase just yet.  They had his room all pretty and ready for him when we came home.  I have been sleeping on an airbed that doesn't quite stay inflated.  The last couple of mornings have been pretty hard for me because I am up several times at night with Trent and then I wake up with a sore body because of that darn bed.  I really have to focus on choosing my mood and not letting the lack of sleep get to me.

A very tired Trent, resting in his favorite chair.

As far as the recovery goes, there have been no hiccups so far.  I check Trent's vitals a few times a day and keep him on a strict schedule with the inhaler and breathing practices.  He is getting around better but is still quite sore at the incision site.  I would be too if I had a 14" slash around my ribs!

Trent is having a little bit of anxiety the last couple of days.  He has had some bad dreams and is frustrated about being sick for so long.  Dr. Carr didn't want him to resume his anxiety medicine so I guess we will try to keep him calm with music and some essential oils.  I really need to learn some good massage techniques so I can help him the way Evan did.  That was far better than taking any pills!  

Although the road is slow going right now, I know Trent will "turn a corner" pretty soon.  For the most part his spirits are high.  He continues to amaze me with his strength and determination.  He has sacrificed a lot to cancer in order to stay here with me and the kids.  Amazing, truly amazing.  Man, I love him!

Goin' Home!

Dr. Carr stopped by on Saturday morning to assess Trent.  He said everything looks good and there is no reason to keep him here.  So we are leaving this morning, Sunday.  All the docs keep saying how surprised they are that Trent has "sailed" through this surgery as well as he has.  He is still sore but everything is progressing nicely.  He will go home with oxygen although he is not getting too much.  He is only on one liter at rest and two with exercise.  He has tried to sit without it a few times and does quite well.  As he gets stronger he won't need it any more.  Respiratory came in the other day to test his right lung.  His score was 131.  Normal for a person his size with two lungs is 132.  Rock on, right?!

Dr. Carr also brought news of the pathology.  I was not too surprised with the results given what they encountered during surgery.  The lymph nodes that were removed were all negative, (remember that is a good thing), the large tumor had grown back to about 9 cm and was only 10-15% necrotic (dead).  The margins were negative everywhere except the two spots where the tumor was growing onto the heart and onto the chest wall.  That is not exactly what we wanted to hear, but again, not surprising.  Dr. Carr said that at the chest wall site there was absolutely nothing more he could have taken so there is a chance that he got all the cancer, although the margin was positive.  The heart surgeon who stepped in on the surgery to remove the tumor on his heart was hopeful that all the cancer had been removed from his heart as well.  We are not going to worry too much about the positive margins because in Dr. Carr's words, "It is what it is."  We are going to start radiation in the first part of July and with the expertise of Dr. Hahn from PA, we will hopefully get any cancer cells that are left.  Until then, we are going to pray like crazy and spend every moment we can enjoying our family.   

Yesterday we got a visit from Stephanie, another one of our favorite nurses.  Okay, who are we kidding...we love nurses!  There have been so many who have been so great!  We love to talk to each one and find out about their lives and what makes them tick.  It is really fun and we both feel like we have made some great friends because of that.  

Stephanie and Trent-all smiles!

 Yesterday afternoon Trent finally got in the shower.  He could have done it earlier but it just took too much out of him to do it.  I gave him bed baths but that is just not the same.  He sat in the shower for about fifteen minutes just letting the water run over him.  We got him all spruced up and smelling pretty and he felt so much better.

All cleaned up and no place to go!

 It has been nice to not really have any issues pop up during our stay here.  Each night we picked a movie and relaxed.  Last night we were watching The Vow, not a great movie so don't waste your time.  Nice idea, really lame script.  I think Trent was losing interest and I looked over to see this...

Nice monacle, Trent!

You can hardly see it in the picture but he has one of the medicine cups on his eye like a monacle.  It is nice to have him joking around again. :)

Day 8 Post Op

Yesterday was not too bad although Trent was feeling increasingly anxious and not quite right. The xrays of his chest yesterday and today have both shown a slight increase in fluid in the left chest cavity, which is good.  The heart is only slightly on the ride side and is stable.  Trent is swelling quite a bit more in his lower body and his bowels are giving him fits.  At about noon yesterday Trent was moved to IMCU which is intermediate ICU. Basically it was a little bit of a step down, also a good thing. 

Jan stopped by to see Trent yesterday.  She is so cool!  She told Trent that he is the reason she loves her job.  She said that what is happening is absolutely a miracle.  We know Jan, we KNOW.

Trent had another massage from Evan yesterday.  During the massage Evan and I were talking about our kids and discovered we both had a son named Jarom.  I said, "I assume you are LDS if you named your son Jarom."  He said he was and Trent almost immediately asked if Evan would give him a blessing.  He agreed and came back a bit later with Jerame from PT to administer to Trent.  Evan gave a beautiful blessing of healing, peace, and comfort.  How blessed are we?!  That experience just reaffirmed to me the power the priesthood holds.  It truly is the power of God on earth.  No matter who the mouthpiece is, the blessings are the same.  Awesome.

After the blessing Trent felt really good and had a pretty good evening.  We even got a visit from one of our favorite nurses...Katie!  She said Dr. Gouw's staff is all very excited with how well everything is going and she just had to come see for herself. 

However, once the lights went out he became increasingly uncomfortable.  After a pretty rough night and more xrays, it was decided he needed a suppository, lasix, and blood.  Poor guy!  He is just feeling generally miserable!  As soon as he eats anything his stomach bloats up and becomes very painful.  His legs and abdomen are swollen and sore.  I am just a bit nervous that the delicate balance of fluid will be disrupted by the Lasix.  We are giving the blood and Lasix at the same time to hopefully minimize the decrease in the good fluid that Trent needs and just get it out of his legs.  The first unit of blood has been going in for about a half hour now and already his heart rate is dropping into a better range.  His blood pressure has been pretty good for a day or so now but is looking a bit better with the blood.  His oxygenation is still at 98-100 consistently, except when he walks.  If he isn't careful it dips a bit but that will improve with time.  Hopefully the blood will give him the perk he needs.

A Little Hiccup

This morning at about 1:00 am Trent woke me up to tell me about a dream he was having.  He said he was dreaming about checkmarks.  What?!  He woke me up to tell me about checkmarks?  He continued to say that it was like he was looking at a map of his life and it was littered with checkmarks at crucial points.  There was a checkmark at the point that my life intersected his and checkmarks where each of our children were born among other things.  Then he went back to sleep.  Uh...okay.

About two hours later he woke me up again to ask if I remembered what he told me about his dream.  I said I did and related back to him what he told me earlier.  He then explained that he realized during his dream that throughout his life when he thought he knew what was best and things didn't happen to go his way, they always turned out better than he had planned.  Even with all the bumps in the road, Heavenly Father's plan has always been better. 

I thought it was funny that he came to that realization in the middle of the night and just had to wake me up to tell me about it, and had to wake me up to make sure I remembered it.

After breakfast Trent asked for scrub bottoms to wear.  I was trying to help him put them on and he just stood right up by himself.  That was a big step from where we have been.  He walked all the way down the hall and back with only one rest.  It was almost twice as far as he walked the day before. 

This afternoon Dr. Nagasawe, Dr. Carr's associate, came in and told us the xray from this morning showed that Trent's heart is moving a little to the right.  Not good since the left side of his chest is vacant.  That means that the air in Trent's chest is pushing his heart a little too much.  They are considering inserting a needle into Trent's chest to expel some air.  That is exactly what we don't want to happen because of the risk of infection.  The risk is small but if we can avoid it, we should. 

We Skyped with Dr. Carr about an hour after that so he could see Trent and visually assess him.  Trent and I had already talked about watching the xrays for a day or two before we jump into a risky procedure for him.  Dr. Carr said that for everyone else the procedure is a piece of cake, but Trent's chest is full of mesh and introducing the slightest bacteria could be disastrous.

Trent 'skyping' with Dr. Carr


After we talked with Dr. Carr we noticed a bit more swelling in Trent's lower body, particularly on the right side.  Trent started getting a little spooked about it.  We will definitely be watching that closely and doing all we can to make sure it goes away.  We need to make sure that he practices with the incentive spirometer and walks regularly.  Trent is determined to do everything he can to meet every goal we set.  He was so motivated he even got up for a second walk and went even further than before without much trouble. 

Tomorrow marks one week since surgery and we are going to celebrate by letting Trent take a shower. Yippee!  Baby steps people, baby steps. :)

Post Op Day 5

I can't believe we are already five days post op.  All the days seem to blur into one another.  The time has flown yet last Thursday seems like a hundred years ago.  Trent it doing well.  They removed his epidural today and he is now on only oral pain medicine, with the option of IV dilaudid if he needs it.  So far, he has needed it. 

Yesterday my mom brought the kids down to see Trent.  Jarom and Mallory had been coughing so we masked them up and only let them stay for a minute.  Luckily the ICU has had only two patients in it for the last two days so it was pretty quiet and not a lot for the kids to stare at while they were here.  

Zach, Trent, and Jarom

Joellynn and Trent

Mallory and Trent

Me, Jonathan, Mallory, and Trent

 Jonathan told me to "hurry and get Dad better to bring him out of the hospital"  We would love that!  However, Trent is not going anywhere until Saturday at the earliest.

This morning I got up and slipped to the shower before Trent woke up.  While I was gone he woke up and had an episode of "air hunger".  He was gasping for breath and attracted a whole lot of attention from a whole mess of people and I missed it all.  Shortly after that he was able to get up and walk almost all the way down the hall before coming back.  He had to take a short break in the chair that I was pushing behind him.  He is doing better though, each day he is able to go a little further.  He really needs to pace himself and not hurry too quickly.  He has been a little frustrated today that he is basically starting over.  Just one week ago he was building a deck and now he can hardly walk a few steps without being extremely winded.  It's only a matter of time though. 

This is "Evan from Heaven" as we have been calling him.  He is the massage therapist that Dr. Carr ordered for Trent.  He came yesterday and worked on his thigh muscle that was so sore from laying on it for 10 hours during surgery.  Trent was in heaven!-hence the nickname for Evan-just works out nicely that it rhymes too.   He felt immediate relief so we made sure Evan is going to come back each day until we leave.  Today he worked on the thigh again and on Trent's left shoulder.  What a blessing he has been for Trent!  It makes a world of difference for him. 

While Evan was massaging, Dave, the respiratory therapist came in to work on his breathing.  The chest cavity on the left side is filling up with fluid, which we want it to do.  But in doing so it has to push out the air that was there before.  If the cavity fills too quickly it can trap the air and cause a real problem.  Dr. Carr would then have to stick a needle in Trent's chest and release the air.  We really don't want that to happen because there is always a risk of infection when you put anything inside the body.  We want the fluid to rise slowly enough that the air has time to be reabsorbed by the body.  Respiratory therapy has been coming several times today to work his right lung and get it expanding to force the air of the left chest.

In between all of the interruptions he has been able to get some rest today.  He will be in the ICU a few more days then he will "step down".  It doesn't matter much, it has been so quiet and peaceful here.  He is not hooked up to anything but monitors so the beeping is greatly reduced. He can actually take some good naps and he is able to sleep at night for about four hours at a time.  There have only been two patients here for the past two days so Trent is getting all the attention he needs and maybe a little more than we wants. 

(sorry about the half sentence that was posted yesterday...the internet connection in our room leaves much to be desired and I never know when it is going to cut me off.  I am just glad it didn't delete everything I had already done!)

Post Op Day 3

Trent had a little more difficult day yesterday.  I think it was a combination of being that day after surgery that you finally "hit the wall" and the fact that they moved him over to Huntsman ICU.  It was kind of a rough transfer.  There were several nurses and a pretty good sized man to help move him from the bed to a stretcher.  Even during all the pain Trent noticed that one of the nurses was expecting and was more concerned about her than himself.  In a pretty weak and pained voice he asked if she should be lifting him.  That made me smile, he is so considerate!

After they got him moved over to Huntsman he had a difficult time getting comfortable again.  They had taken away the PCA, pain pump, at the U but had to give it back after the transfer.  His pain seems to be pretty well under control now. 

He was able to get up and walk about 10 steps last night.  He got a little shaky and light headed so we quickly got him back to the bed.  We tried to lighten things up a bit by watching, "Hot Rod".  That movie always makes me crack up and Trent was enjoying it as much as he could. 

Towards the end of the evening Dr. Carr stopped by again.  He is pleased with the progress Trent is making and everything is looking good.  He ordered massage therapy for Trent because of his right side still being so sore.  We are all looking forward to seeing how much that helps him. 

When we finally got to bed last night, Trent was up several times.  He kept saying "Spain 184".  Then he woke up in the middle of the night asking how to get to "184 Spaniard Dr."  Trent was frustrated because he had no idea why he couldn't get that out of his head. 

Not a bad day...but not fabulous either.  Onward and upward we go!

Post Op Day 2

Today was a pretty good day for Trent.  His pain has been managed very well and most times he would say was at a 0 or 2-3 on the pain scale.  That is fantastic for him!  He got up and walked a few steps twice today.  It is quite the ordeal to get him up.  With all the wires and tubes everywhere it takes one nurse to manage that and two nurses to manage Trent.  The best thing for him right now is to be moving. 

He has been doing some breathing treatments and exercises which tend to wear him out a little.  He also started a soft food diet today.  He has to be really careful to not let anything go down the wrong pipe so eating is very slow and deliberate with lots of breaks in between bites.  

The right side of his body is still very sore.  It is like he has deep tissue bruises where his body was on the operating table in one position for so long.  We have been keeping ice on those spots and trying some gentle massage.  If he didn't have that to contend with he would be doing way better.

Dr. Carr stopped by today and was happy with all of Trent's numbers.  He told us how impressed he was with Trent's ability to breathe so well with just one lung.  The docs were joking that Trent's numbers were better with one lung than 95% of the staff with two lungs.  That was good to hear.  He is still on oxygen but at only one liter and his oxygen saturation is consistently at 98 or higher.  We are hopeful that by the time he is released from the hospital he will be off oxygen and not have to worry about that.  They are going to remove the central line tomorrow.  I am glad for that because it is not fun looking at the line that is stitched to his neck, hang all over in weird positions.  It pulls at his skin and looks terribly uncomfortable although Trent doesn't complain about it.  Tomorrow they can stop being as stingy with the fluids and give his kidneys a little more rest.  They only want to keep him "dry" for 48 to 72 hours post op.  They are also stepping down the blood pressure medicine because with the increase in fluid intake, he doesn't need the extra help keeping his blood pressure high enough.  Things are trending in the right direction.  Hopefully he will be transferred over to the Huntsman by Monday.  

All in all it was a very good day.  I am hoping that tomorrow is as as good.

(Just realized the video didn't load on yesterday's post.  It is there now.)

Finally, A Surgery Update

Wow.  The last two days have been quite a whirlwind, in a long waiting sort of way.  We came to SLC on Wednesday night so we wouldn't have to get up at 3:30 in the morning.  We met Trent's parents and sister at Little America for dinner.  We stayed there that night and I am pretty sure we had the same room we stayed in for our honeymoon.  We didn't get much sleep.  I was pretty nervous that we were going to be late so I kept waking up every half hour or so to check the clock.  That makes for a very short night!  We arrived at the U at 5:45 am to begin prep for surgery.  I was surprisingly calm and Trent was doing pretty well too.  

Nice hat Trent!

Serious moment with the anesthisiologist.

We finally got to meet Dr. Friedberg shortly before they wheeled Trent away. He was very quiet and not at all what I expected. There was a little bit of a nervous energy in the room but I still was not too nervous.

Dr. Friedberg, Trent, and Dr. Carr

Tracy, Joellynn, Doug, and Trent

Tracy brought cupcakes for all the surgical team and they loved it! We kept hearing all day how great they were.

Me and my Warrior

Saying goodbye to my patient!

When I told Trent goodbye a let a tear or two slip, I hate sending him off to the operating room. We have done that way too many times for my liking.

Me and Jan, a.k.a. Superwoman

Jan is Dr. Carr's "go to woman". She was the powerhouse behind getting Dr. Friedberg cleared to do surgery in SLC, which didn't finally get done until 4:20 the night before! She told me she wished she had a picture of my family that she could have shown the administration as she was begging for clearance. She and Dr. Carr have really gone to bat for Trent. Most of the administration was wondering why they would want to do such a risky surgery for a Stage IV sarcoma patient. Five little kids need a dad, that's why!

Surgery started at about 7:30 am. I had been receiving updates every couple of hours by phone from a nurse in the OR. The last update I heard at 6:15 pm was that it would be about 45 minutes before Dr. Carr came to talk to me. I had barely picked up a magazine when Dr. Carr was standing in front of me. "How was your day?" he asked. I was so shocked to see him that I was caught off guard. I asked how his day went and when he said, "Great", I burst into tears and jumped up and gave him a huge hug. I turned around to find Dr. Friedberg. He was literally standing behind some plants. I motioned him over and he very hesitatingly stepped out from behind his "shield". I am pretty sure I was totally invading his bubble when I hugged him. His hug was about as stiff as a board so I went back to Dr. Carr for a better one. :)

The surgery went well and they were able to remove all humanly detectable evidence of disease. They resected a couple of enlarged lymph nodes early on in the surgery. We knew they were enlarged but they had not really changed on any of the scans so no one was too worried about them. They will be sent to pathology. We were really hoping to find a dead tumor in there but that was not exactly the case. There was actually more growth than the last scan showed. There was a tumor that was growing onto the chest wall and one that was butting up to the heart. Dr. Carr and Dr. Friedberg removed the entire left lung, the lining of the chest, then diaphragm on the left side, and part of the pericardium. They rebuilt the diaphragm and the pericardium and called in the cardiac surgeon to remove the stuff on his heart. It was only about the size of a dime but they wanted the guy with the heart specialty to take care of that.

Early on in the surgery they had discovered the tumor on the heart but Dr. Friedberg insisted that he did not fly all the way from Philly to not do the surgery. That's when they decided they would invite the cardiac surgeon to take care of that spot. Dr. Friedberg was very complimentary about the job the Dr. Carr did and they were both pleased with the outcome. They said about three times that there is NO EVIDENCE OF DISEASE! Yet, there is possibly still microscopic disease so we will follow up with chemo and radiation after Trent has recovered from this surgery. After we talked to the docs we had to wait about two more hours to see Trent. I was bracing myself for a pretty scary sight but this is what I got...

Trent, about two hours post op

Not too bad! The scariest thing was the IV in his neck, not too pretty to look at. He was still pretty comfortable except for all down his right side he had some pretty angry looking pressure spots. Those have been bothering him all day today. Trent was doing well enough that I whipped out my phone and started recording.

I left Trent last night and went to stay at Josh's house a few minutes away.  As soon as my head hit the pillow I was asleep.  I know I didn't move all night long.  I was soooo tired and had been fighting a headache all day long.  I am sure it was mostly nerves.  When I arrived at the hospital the next morning I found Trent looking like this...

15 hours post op

Not too bad!  Dr. Carr and Dr. Friedberg said that the surgery Trent had is about the biggest one that is done.  I am sure the enormity of the situation has not fully hit me yet.  It is a little weird watching him breathe and having only one side of his chest rise and fall.  This afternoon Dr. Carr showed me pictures of what was removed from Trent's body.  I will spare you all the beauty of that picture!  I asked him how big it was because I couldn't really tell from the picture.  I was expecting about the size of a small loaf of bread but it was much larger than that.  It was about 4 pounds and almost the size of a dish towel.  Yikes! 

Trent has done okay today.  They are keeping him somewhat "dry" to keep his lung from having to work to hard yet.  It is a fine balance because they don't want to ruin his kidneys either.  They know they are going to stress out the kidneys but in Dr. Carr's words, "you have two of those and they bounce right back".  It is all about protecting that one lung now.

Trent received two units of blood today because it is a little more effective in getting fluid into Trent without messing up the balance and keeping his blood pressure high enough.  Late this evening they started him on some medicine to help with the blood pressure.  It is pretty low because they are keeping Trent slightly dehydrated for now.  Trent was really tired today and not able to rest very much.  The ICU is definitely not a place for rest.  We are both looking forward to getting to the Huntsman to a floor bed but that won't be for a few more days.  He is for sure not going home until next Friday and maybe later than that depending on how he is doing.

28 hours post op

Thank you so much for the prayers, good thoughts, fasting, and support! I have felt it so much and am so grateful! We are humbled again as we reflect on the past two days and look to the days ahead. I can't really believe it is happening to us. We have been lifted up and sustained in ways that I never could have dreamed possible. This experience has been life changing, to what extent I am not yet sure. But as Jan said, "It has been deliberate and purposeful." I believe that with all of my heart.