8/21 - 5:00pm, 2nd Phase Successful

Dr. Bridges entered the waiting room at 5:oo pm with a pleasant look on his face. He regretted not having a graphic to aid in his explanation, but nonetheless walked us through his procedure. The tumor, although extending into the atrium (upper right chamber of the heart) was not attached to the main atrial wall. It was, however, attached to the superior vena cava (SVC), which leads directly into the atrium of the heart. Previously, Dr. Bridges had thought that the tumor might be attached only to a small degree of the vessel wall. However, examining the vessel directly he found that the tumor had infiltrated a 360 degree portion of the SVC and did so over a large section of the stump of this vessel. Since they could not salvage any of the vessel without the risk of leaving cancer cells behind, Dr. Bridges removed a significant portion of the SVC and, using a vein from Kristine's leg, reconstructed a new pathway for the blood to flow into the heart (i.e., essentially "bypassing" the missing vein with a new one).

The doctor felt that the surgery was successful. He articulated that a small risk exists that the new bypassed vein could experience increased clotting at the connection point (only a 10% likelihood) and that Kristine may see a minor amount of permanent swelling in her right arm (likely unnoticeable). He told us that he assisted Dr. Shrager in the initial portion of the surgery and clarified that it was not time that prevented them from resecting the last bit of tumor mass in Kristine's shoulder, but rather the risk of getting into deep chasing an unknown section of tumor mass. Future radiation will likely be necessary to "zap" the remaining mass.

The surgical team is currently wiring Kristine's ribs back to her sternum (breastbone) and stitching her incision together (they do this using plastic surgery techniques to minimize scaring --"staples" are a thing of the past for those of you who are wondering). We should get to see Kristine in recovery soon.