Posted on 11/29/2019 10:39:28 AM PST by KC Burke
This post is to ask for prayers for a very serious surgery I am scheduled to have this next Wednesday. It is a 4 to 7 hour long gastrectomy to remove my stomach with its related stage three cancerous tumor, now dead from chemo.
I was diagnosed with stage 3 stomach cancer in July.
The current “best practices” calls for four component FLOT chemotherapy, scan for lack of spread, gastrectomy if the patient can endure it, then a follow-up second four rounds of chemo. I have been undergoing cardiac evaluation the last week to see if I have a strong enough heart to endure this surgery. They could cancel or delay the surgery and that won’t be final until Monday afternoon or Tuesday.
At the time I started chemo there were a few posters to whom it was appropriate to mention the challenge I was involved in, but since I had a very good team locally, I didn’t want to create the impression that I was looking for healthcare alternatives or did not have good guidance, thereby prompting a nine month thread of comments that I would have trouble keeping up with and doing justice to the thoughts that others might contribute.
I am fortunate to have the Honor Health / Virginia G. Piper Cancer center for the home of my aggressive young Oncologist. He coordinates with my M. D. Anderson surgeon who has a Sloan-Kettering oncological surgical fellowship and is the top Gastric Surgeon in the west half of the US as far as I can tell.
At 71 years a four to seven hour surgery is no small undertaking, especially with some cardiac disease. I hope to make it through, continue my wonderful life with my beloved wife (the angel of my life) and enjoy my children, step-children and ten grandchildren (with another one due in February).
Hospital stay is four to seven days, and recovery is six to eight weeks as the digestive track has to accustom itself to very small meals. Some adapt easily, others with difficulty.
I am enjoying a modest retirement, that I took at close to 67, having a romantic juggernaut with my wife of 22 years and enjoying old and new friends. Twenty years of Free Republic has been no small part of a larger fellowship of faith and like minds. I thank you all for making that great and I remember fondly those that have gone before me.
KC Burke
fyi
Prayers up... may God Bless
Prayers up!
Will keep you and your family in my prayers.
FReeper prayers, my FRiend.
Praying. May God, through His Son, Jesus Christ, guide, bless and protect you and your family.
Prayers for a successful surgery, recovery and complete recuperation.
7
Prayers bro!
Prayers up!
God bless you & your family. May He keep you safe in His arms.
Prayers for you and your family!
Prayers up, my FRiend!
Prayers up KC.
I’ll be praying for you!
Prayers up for you, FRiend!
Prayers for a successful surgery and a good recovery.
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