Quick Update

A dear friend drove me home this morning so I could take a quick shower and pack up some clothes for the next few nights. So, while I hope to sometime share the complete adventures of esophagectomy surgery, for now I wanted to be sure and give a quick rundown.

In short...

Surgery took just 6 1/2 hours as opposed to the 12 hours they had anticipated. Incredible.

They were able to safely keep about 2/3 of Dalton's stomach, therefore eliminating the need for using part of Dalton's colon. Awesome.

Blood supply to the region looked good, so they were able to reattach everything then and there. Such good news for us.

There didn't appear to be much reisdual tumor anywhere in the esophagus or surrounding regions. Everyone seemed quite amazed at the healing Dalton had experienced in the past few weeks. Praise God.

Dalton was awake and in good spirits just an hour after being closed up. He was smiling and cracking jokes and blowing all of our minds. Unbelievable

Now, about last night...

Things were a little tougher, because Dalton has three interdependent challenges that the doctors are trying to control.

1) He has a fever which probably indicates that he isn't breathing deep enough to clear out his lungs. The docs think this is due to uncontrolled pain.

2) He is battling VERY LOW blood pressure (at one point 73/26) caused by the pain meidine he is receiving through the epidural.

3. The uncontrolled pain makes it difficult for him to clear the gunk out of his lungs and get up to move.

I'll likely be staying with Dalton in ICU for the next few days, but will do my best to post occasional updates. I can't begin to thank everyone for the overwhelming support we have received. It really has been amazing.