Dr Kemeny and HAI pump...APPROVED

[jhocno197]

Cfbiff, glad to hear it went well!!

[kandj]

thank you all for your well wishes and prayers. the surgery was yesterday and near flawless from the surgeons persepective. they were even able to reconnect the sigmoid instead of an ostomy...which they had planned to do.
Im a hurtin unit today but have made day two goals less than 24 hrs out of surgery. onward and upward. so happy to have the primary cancer out and dr. kemeny for our doc! finally some hope.

Glad it went well! It is a rough surgery to have, the incision is large (so try not to compare yourself to some of the old guys walking the halls faster than you! Those guys has small incisions! Make sure you stay on top of your meds. Push that med button! Great news on the reconnect! That will help your recovery as well.

[Lee]

Glad your surgery went well .

Hope the HAI pump does an awesome job. Dr K has helped many people here.

All the best,

Lee

[Badass]

I have a silly question. Maybe a ridiculous and scary question, from someone with liver and lung mets who has had two resections and watching two more lung spots. I have had read about the HAI pump and Dr K but never considered myself a candidate as I was told I was operable and had liver resected. Do you go to Dr K because no one else will touch your tumor? i know she is known as a a life saver and is tremendously respected for her trailblazing... Reassessing my options after next scan and while HAI is not on my radar, I'm reflecting on what I know now and didn't know then....thx!

I went to Dr. K for the HAI pump even though I had just one small, easily resected liver met. I was told a cure is possible in my situation and I wanted to maximize that chance.

Jane

[Cfbiff]

Thank you all so much for the prayers and advice. I've said from the beginning, prayer is my way out of this. Three days out from hai and sigmoid resection....went textbook so far. They were able to avoid ostomy. Breathing up to 3000 in the little breathing tester....dr didn't believe me and asked me to prove it.....so I did.

Took others advice and hit the walking...walked a mile today.

Have the pump test tomorrow, so have practiced laying flat hoping it will help. Now if only I could fart and move to liquid diet and beyond.....I'd really like a grilled chicken sandwich with tomato....or some salmon.....but they tell my that's not in the cards for near future

Even with the pain, I'm so ready to focus on liver and work toward another surgery...liver resection!

[midlifemom]

Patience!
I know it's hard to wait, but patience got you here, so give your body the rest it needs. The farting will come. Keep walking - you're doing great!

[HopeForJesse]

So glad to hear things went well and wow a mile already! Good for you

[Cfbiff]

Still in NYC Helmsley recouping. Dealing with more pain as I'm attempting to do without the oxycodone as it constipated me quickly and the constipation/gas pain is worse than the surgery pain by far. Having pain all over my abdomen....but the wound seems to be healing well. Still have my abdominal drain but hope they can take it out before I go back home.

Yesterday, got good news as they believe they got all cancer out with the main tumor and lymph nodes.....now only the liver....and it is formidable. With that said, Dr. D'Angelica did some liver tumor biopsy at same time and found those sampled were either dead or mostly dead. We were thrilled. Hoping the HAI pump can handle the rest.

We meet with Dr. Kemeny and get the first chemo fill on Monday. Then head back to the Midwest on Tuesday.

For those that have received the pump, how long was it before your abdomen started feeling normal again?

[kandj]

sorry your recovery is rough! Dh felt the same way about the Oxy. Just make sure you are taking your colace 3x a day, keep things moving. Senna is pretty mild as well, 3 at night will help move things along if you need it to. Dh felt pretty good by 3-4 weeks post op. For the colon/pump surgery he was back at work less than 3 weeks post op. This time, following the liver surgery (his was also very extensive, 15+ tumors removed, 10 of them 1-2cm in size) he felt better post op, but he ended up with an abscess that landed him back in the hospital for a week less than 3 weeks after surgery. Once that started to clear up he felt much better. Just try to take it easy but also make sure you are moving. It can be harder to move when you get home because your aren't as bored. make sure you are walking and moving to get those wounds healing.

[radnyc]

Hi there, happy that you had a great surgery and are on your way to recovery. My HAI pump was placed at the same time as my liver resection, got a pretty big scar, but I must say that my recovery went really well, without major complications. Recovering from the chemotherapy regimen that followed, that was actually harder. I believe one of the things that help me recover from the surgery was that I decided to be as active as I could, as fast as I could. Long walks mostly, helped having a dog, movement of any sort in particular has been shown to enhance the bodies healing capacity. Of coursed, don't do anything too strenuous at first. I was able to return to work after one month, and about 3 months later I was doint 3 mile jogs, three times per week. Hang in there, I'm certain you're on your way to a full recovery, listen to the doctors, stay healthy.

Al