Surgery update (warning - graphic photo below!)

Well, the surgery is over with and Ryan is recovering. We got to Huntsman Cancer at about 8:45 a.m. and the surgery was scheduled to start at 10:40 a.m. I had to leave to take Emily to the Wound Clinic at 10:00, so I didn't get to see Ryan wheeled off. I called the nurses' station at 11:30 - they had just barely taken him back. I was glad that they started late because I really wanted to be there when he got to recovery.

At 12:55 p.m. the OR nurse called. The surgery was finished and Ryan was in post-op. She said that Dr. Noyes wanted to talk to me, so they wanted me to head to the conference room as soon as I got there (I had been at the Wound Clinic this whole time and then had to drive in the snow). About 5 minutes later, the nurse called again and asked if it was okay if Dr. Noyes talked to me on the phone, as he had another patient to get to. Dr. Noyes got on the phone and said that the surgery went well. They were able to remove the lymph nodes through one incision. He also said that sometimes he can tell when lymph nodes are cancerous and that Ryan's looked clean. He then told me that he would talk to us when I got there and Ryan was in recovery.

I finally got up to the 3rd floor (OR) after the horrible 45 minute drive from LDS to Huntsman Cancer. Emily and I still had to wait for a little bit, as Ryan had to be in post-op for one hour before I could see him. When we finally were told that we could go back, I walked into one of the recovery rooms to see Ryan sitting up in a chair, drinking juice and completely alert. I was a little surprised... I thought he would be a little more out of it than that.

We remained there for about another hour until Dr. Noyes got there (he wanted to see Ryan again before we left). He told us again that the surgery went well. Although he was able to remove both lymph nodes through one incision in the groin area, he said that he had to "dig" a little bit and that Ryan would probably be pretty sore from that. He also looked at the other incision (the big one below) and told Ryan that he "superglued" it and stapled it, so Ryan didn't need a bandage and could shower as desired. He told Ryan to be a couch potato until Tuesday (when our followup appointment is). This will be difficult for Ryan - he is not a sit around kind of person.

We finally got home at 5:30 p.m. after the LONG drive in the snow. The roads actually weren't horrible... I've definitely driven in worse. Sweet Emily was so patient after such a long day.

Our followup appointment is on Tuesday at 4:00 p.m. We will find out the results of the biopsy - whether or not the cancer is in the lymph nodes and if they were able to remove all of the cancer. Dang - it's going to be a long wait!!!

Ryan is actually doing really well. He is obviously limping and takes Lortab as needed. He said that the groin area is the most sore and that his leg feels really tight and weak. Hopefully his recovery will be quick and as least painful as it can be. He did say that it is crappy that he had to have surgery when he wasn't sick or even hurting anywhere.

Dr. Noyes is awesome... He called last night to find out if we made it home okay and to see how Ryan was doing. He is super busy but obviously really concerned about his patients.

The picture below is of the main incision. It has 21 staples in it. The blue dye is from where they injected around the mole to double check where the lymph nodes are. There are also two "retention" stitches... They do this because they have to close such a large area and want to make sure that the incision doesn't come open. I didn't show a picture of the smaller incision (a little too private of an area). :-) This incision has 8-9 staples and is about 3 inches long.

Thanks so much for all of the caring and concern... We have such wonderful family and friends. We are still praying for a good outcome and hope that Tuesday brings great news.