Surgery scheduled

Hello all,

My daughter's MIL has her surgery scheduled for May 15.  She has to have a stress test this week first.  My daughter saw her yesterday and she was feeling fatigued and her side was hurting.  She is scared, of course.  She has told my SIL that she is not afraid to die but is not ready to.  I am scared for her, too.  We are asking for prayers.  Her name is Maria Tarnava and is such a nice lady.  She has been a wonderful MIL for my daughter, more like a second mom.  I don't think you can have too many moms.  She is also thinking about what the surgeon told her "that this is the only option" and that worries her some. 

Connie, did you have any pain before your transplant?  Is it possible that the surgeon means that this is the only option at this time as the tumor is too large for transplantation right now?

Thanks Georgia.

Yes Connie,

They are planning to surgically remove the tumor next week. I guess the words "the only option" are pretty scary. Hopefully, it has not spread. How did they determine that yours had not spread?

It is in the right lobe.  I was told that part of the tumor is apparently outside of the liver and part in the liver itself. 

yes she has hepatitis C. I guess everything is one step at a time and a wait and see. This is the first step to save her life. Hopefully, if it comes back, she will be ready and qualify for a transplant. I do know that the surgeon told her they will look carefully during surgery for any additional small spots that he will treat somehow at that time.

Georgia.

My daughter's MIL is going into the hospital tomorrow morning at 5:30 for her surgery.  She met with the doctor today and he told her she would have many tubes, i.e. in the nose and drains, etc.  She is ready to get this done, however, so she can start to feel better.  Would you believe that her first great grandchild is being born tomorrow at a different hospital nearby?  What a day with rollercoaster emotions for my son-in-law.  They are going to be scrambling from hospital to hospital.  She has a wonderful surgeon so I am going with the assumption that he really does feel that all will go well or he would not be attempting this.  My son-in-law said that he thought the surgeon said he would only be removing about one half of the right lobe, so that sounds hopeful.  I think it may be a good omen that my son-in-law's daughter is giving birth on the exact same day (they are incuding labor). 

Hope all is well.  Georgia.

Hello all,

Just wanted to post an update.  Maria had the surgery this morning and it went well.  It was much quicker than expected.  The tumor was actually situated more along the top of the liver encroaching into the diaphragm.  He removed it all and only a small amount of the liver plus some of the diaphragm.  She is off the vent.  She may be able to go to a regular room tomorrow.  The doctor told my daughter that a transplant is off the table.  But, you know, who knows, maybe at a later time.  She would like to have a transplant.  He did say that he noted no spread while in there.  Hopefully, she will remain okay for quite a while.  The liver must be pretty unusual.  A tumor of that size (9 cm) anywhere else would almost certainly have spread.  But, going by Connie's and Maria's tumors, I am thinking that the liver is different than anywhere else.

No baby yet, however.