thymoma cancer free

Wendy had a painful, yet productive day. She experienced many anxious moments, feeling overwhelmed, and fearful.

Dr. Calhoun gave Wendy the overall surgery results today.

1. As of today, pathology reports show that ALL thymoma cancer has been removed. Praise JESUS people!
   
2. Dr. Calhoun reconstructed a synthetic diaphragm with a GORE-TEX graft. It was essential the diaphragm be rebuilt so her other organs would remain in place.
   
3. The lining around her heart was removed and replaced.
4. He is optimistic that all feeling will return to her right leg. It will take time though.
   

Wendy will have one more debridement procedure tonight. Nurses had to unpack and repack her incision site with gauze four times over a 24 hour period. Negative pressure wound therapy with a Wound V.A.C. will be inserted tomorrow and will replace the debridement process. The Wound V.A.C. will continue to remove dead cells, excess fluid, and infection. A Wound V.A.C. uses negative pressure to promote healing in an open area. The Wound V.A.C. foam dressing and tube will only need to be replaced every three days. Removal of the saturated gauze and repacking of fresh gauze was extremely uncomfortable for Wendy. Even though the Wound V.A.C. will add yet another tube to Wendy's already tube, line, bag filled body it will be a welcomed alternative to having gauze upacked and repacked every 6 hours.

Wendy had real food delivered to her room tonight. Spaghetti, grean beans, and a roll. She was reluctant to eat food because she was fatigued after finishing her second walk of the day, had zero appetitie, and was extremely anxious to eat and swallow food for the first time in 18 days. After 15 minutes of having the dinner sit in front of her she decided to give it a try. Go Wendy! She ate half of a nibble of bread, three plain noodles cut (by her mom) into tiny bites, and three small canned grean beans. She swallowed everything just fine. A nutritionist came by and evaluated Wendy tonight and recommended she receive at least 1,800 calories a day. 1,800 calories will be delivered to Wendy through her iv and food. They hope to increase her food calorie intake every day.

Wendy's back is continuing to cause her extreme pain. It was determined today that the pain is being caused by her LARGE incision site. Since the epidural was turned off, the pain in her back and all areas near her incision site has greatly increased. A nurse completely resterilized her incision site tonight. It is imperative that incision site stay free of infection.

Dr. Calhoun has ordered Wendy's pain medication be increased at night so she can get more sleep. She needs to start getting more sleep. Three, two hour stints of sleep is just not enough.

Pray...

• Wendy feels less anxious and fearful.

• The Wound V.A.C. is installed successfully and helps remove all infection from her body.

• She eats and sleeps more tomorrow.

• Her back and incision site pain goes away.

Praises...

• Wendy is free of thymoma cancer!

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. Philippians 4:6

Let's allow WENDY to focus on healing, physically and emotionally.
WE, her prayerful team will pray, petition, offer thanksgiving, and present requests on her behalf.