We met with Dr. Skarsgard Dominique’s Surgeon. He said the CT scan looks “fantastic” and that the remaining tumor/scar tissue is in a good location for resection. The surgery is booked for next Thursday July 18th (we don’t know the exact time yet).
The surgery itself will take approximately 2 hours. Dr. Skarsgard believes that he may be able to remove the tumor through a scope but may have difficulty due to Dominique’s small size. This route would give Dominique a less painful recovery and less scarring. If not, Dominique would have an incision that extends from her left breast back to her left shoulder blade and require an epidural for a few days to help with pain relief. We also reminded him that Dr. Bond previously told us Dominique’s central line could come out on this date and he’ll verify this for us. Dominique’s hospital stay is expected to be between 3-5 days.
We made the surgeon blush today as we requested to see the tumor after it’s removed. He says it needs to be delivered to the pathology department immediately while it is “fresh” but he is willing to take a photo for us. This may help resolve my deep down denial coping mechanism. It is this government conspiracy theory I’ve fantasized about. That Dominique never has had cancer, that she was chosen randomly by the government for an experiment on how the body responds to certain chemicals and tests.
Well, we keep on reminding ourselves that “this is more stress now less stress later”. Taking the tumor out mean less follow-up testing and less stress wondering if it is growing back (aka cancer relapse). It also gives us more information about the tumor. We will find out the complete biology of the remaining mass and find out if it truly is killed off or if there are still some living cancer cells.
On the flip side, I feel sick to my stomach as I recall the last time Dominique had surgery, seeing her with all the tubes attached to her little body and uncomfortably in pain. We’ll get through it as usual, as we get closer (hopefully) to the end of this road.
Time spent in the hospital on that day: 1 hour