8/21 - 2:15pm, 1st Half Complete

There are two parts to Kristine's surgery today. The first is to resect any remaining tumor from Kristine's right subclavian vein (the vein that runs underneath the clavicle or collarbone). The second is to remove tumor from the right atrium of her heart and the superior vena cava (the major vein the dumps blood into the heart from the upper half of the body).

Dr. Shrager, the vascular surgeon, operated first, performing the resection of tumor from the subclavian vein. When we met with Dr. Shrager on Monday (the day before Kristine's surgery) he indicated that he would likely need to permanently remove Kristine's right clavicle bone in order to properly access the vein and confidently remove all tumor mass. He explained that this was very typical in operating on this particular vein due to its partially obscured location behind the bone. He also explained that the bone is not entirely necessary and removal would inhibit only extreme activities (for example a tennis serve). As you can probably image, Kristine was less than thrilled with this potential outcome especially as a last minute development. After discussing further with the doctor, he assured us that he would do everything he could to save the bone short of compromising complete removal of any tumor cells.

Dr. Shrager called us out of the waiting room at around 1:45. He explained that he had found four small independent masses along the inside of the vein. Fortunately the vein was exposed enough that it did not require removal of the bone -- news that Kristine will certainly appreciate and that the Becker's and I were happy to hear. Unfortunately there is still a small fourth mass in the vein around the shoulder that Dr. Shrager could not access and had to leave behind. To paraphrase the doctor's words, she would not be able to take anymore. We assumed this to mean that time was a factor since the surgery had already gone 4 hours with another 3-4 hour heart surgery still ahead. We will be discussing options regarding this small tumor at a later point.

As for right now, Dr. Bridges has begun the heart portion of the surgery. We are anxious to hear his report but don't expect any news until around 5 or 5:30pm.

Until then,
Ryan