My Dad - Surgery Update #2

The Mass:
The mass was the size of a football and weighed 4-5 pounds. There was actually an indentation on the kidney where it was located. I got the example that it was like when you step on spongy carpet and your foot makes an indention. Hopefully that means that the indention corrected itself when the mass was removed, like the carpet rising back into place.

The doctor said the mass was pussy looking, like an abscess, but wasn't an abscess. Sharon got to see a picture of the mass on the anesthesiologist's phone. Apparently the anesthesiologist used his camera phone to photograph the mass; when he came to the room he showed it to Sharon on his phone. She said it was red with lots of veins running through it and looked like an organ.

The mass was 95% benign. The other 5% consists of the contents of the mass; we are still waiting on those results. The doctors had to crack at least 2 ribs to remove the mass (Dad says it was more than 2 though). His incision is on his side and is approx 10-12 inches long with 40 staples. Dad also said they had to cut the diaphram on one lung to move it out of the way so they could remove the mass.

The doctor's theory about the adrenal gland hemorrhage was wrong. The mass is what killed the adrenal gland. The doctor said the adrenal gland had been dead "a long time." (So the mass had probably been growing a long time.) I don't know what "a long time" means - months, years, decades?

Pain:
Friday, Saturday, and Sunday were really bad days for dad. I spoke to him briefly on Friday - long enough for him to say he was in pain and had to go. Then he wasn't up for talking again until Monday night. On Sunday night/Monday he finally figured out not to wait until he was in pain to hit the button on the pain pump, but to hit it as often as it will give him Morphine. Poor dad, I guess I should have told him that but it seemed obvious to me. Then again, most people aren't thinking terribly clearly after major surgery. Dad said he was able to sleep Sunday night. He woke up every 45 minutes to press the pump button but then went right back to sleep.

It sounds like most of his pain is due to his ribs, so breathing hurts. At least yesterday he was able to do his "breathing machine" (where you suck on the plastic tube to keep the ball suspended in a certain range - to keep you from getting pneumonia). He said it was a joke, i.e. he couldn't get the ball where it was supposed to be, but the doctor said that's to be expected due to the cutting of the diaphram. I'm just glad he's trying now; he refused to even try over the weekend due to the pain.

Movement:
Dad is able to sit for an hour and is able to take walks. He said walking actually hurts less than doing the breathing machine. Walking also helps prevent pneumonia so that's a good thing.

Gastrointestinal:
He is tolerating liquids and said they were going to start him on soft solids soon. He is passing gas so his guts are starting to move. This is important since you can't go home until they are working again!

Current Concerns/Issues:
Dad's pancreas is throwing off fluid like it is leaking. They have been analyzing the fluid every day. (Dad doesn't know if it is pancreatic fluid or what it is.) This is not a good thing. Currently they are waiting for it to stop. I'm not sure how long they are going to wait or what they will do if it doesn't stop, but I'm pretty sure they won't send him home as long as it's still doing this. They haven't discussed a plan for sending him home yet; Dad thought they might talk about the plan today.

Other:
Goldfarb (dad's urologist/kidney specialist/surgeon is presenting dad's case to about 60 doctors on Tuesday. I'm not sure if this is during grand rounds or what but it goes to show you that Goldfarb meant it when he said he'd never seen anything like the mass before. Boy how I wish I could be there for the presentation!

I think that's everything for now.