Surgery Video

When I was laying on the operating table (just before they put me to sleep) the anesthesiologist asked me if it was OK if he took pictures and I told him "absolutely, as long as I get copies of them". I am still trying to get them but when I asked my surgeon he said he could give me a copy of the video he made (that he will use for educational purposes). It's pretty much a "highlight reel" and is about 2.5 minutes long.

Here is what you see:

• My heart beating before they do anything
• Them hooking me up to the cardiac bypass machine that does the work of your heart and lungs while they repair the heart (I believe I was on this machine for about 35 minutes)
• Dr. Reardon cutting out the tumor & some of the tissue around it (the tumor is the white thing)
• Dr. Reardon sewing the cardiac patch in place
• My heart beating after he's done

I uploaded the video to YouTube and figured I might as well post it here. I get a very strange feeling when I watch this video - not many people get to look at their own heart beating...it's pretty cool! For those that don't like blood and guts I wouldn't look. Check it out here.

Recovery Going Great!

Well I am two and a half weeks from surgery and things are going pretty well. We had a follow-up appointment with my surgeon yesterday and they were pretty happy with how well things are going. I am so happy we came here for this - Dr. Reardon and his staff have been great to us and I am lucky to have him as my surgeon as there is nobody with more experience than him when it comes to removing cardiac tumors (I think I was his 30th resection).

The pain has abated significantly and the incision is healing (though it’s still a little sore). Right now the worst part is the limited mobility (I threw a toy for my dog yesterday and it felt like someone stabbed me in the chest) and discomfort sleeping but it seems to get better every day. I am hoping to be able to walk a mile (I still get short of breath easily) by sometime next week and maybe two miles by the time I am four weeks out of surgery.

We’ve received the operative report and the pathology report and overall I think the news is pretty good. As we knew all along Dr. Reardon was able to resect 100% of the tumor. While I was on the operating table the checked the margins and the part of my heart where the SVC artery comes in didn’t have clean margins, meaning there were still traces of the tumor in the heart tissue they cut out, so he cut a little more away from my SVC and was able to get clean margins all around. Though the recurrence rate for these tumors is very high, the fact that he was able to get clean margins weighs heavily in my favor. We talked to him about the decision not to remove the sternum and he reiterated to us that it looked healthy and he didn’t think removing it was nesissary. We talked about the possibility of either treating it with radiation or removing it in the future if scans ever show the cancer I have (or had?) in that area to be active. I was concerned because in July, when the Taxol chemo stopped working, my sternum lit-up on the PET scan indicating active cancer cells. The hope is the AIM chemo killed them (we’ll get a better idea of that in February when I get scanned again).

The pathology report didn’t deliver the news I was hoping and since we haven’t met with my oncologist yet I am not sure how to take it. The tumor in my heart was 90% necrotic (dead) when it was removed meaning the chemo killed 90% of the cancer cells in my heart. Though 90% is a high number, 100% would be much better as this would show a complete response to the chemo. In theory, I think you can apply that 90% to all the active cancer cells in my body which means it’s unlikely the chemo alone was enough to kill 100% of the cancer in my sternum, spine and rib (hopefully the radiation took care of the rest in my spine and rib).

So the big question is what’s next? Though the primary tumor is now gone (which really puts my mind at ease) the fact that the cancer was metastatic means I have to stay vigilant and aggressive. The possibility that the cancer exists in other parts of my body but is too small to show on scans will always be there. When all is said and done I will be off of chemo for 10-12 weeks and if nothing happens (meaning I get clean scans) in that time I feel that means very good things. In my talks with Dr. Ravi it’s apparent that we are going to stay aggressive in combating this disease which means I will likely have two more AIM treatments (which will put me at my limit) and then move on to another chemotherapy to keep killing the cancer cells we can’t see.

I go home next week and I can’t wait to get back to Syracuse and the two feet of snow that’s there because something just doesn’t feel right when it’s January and there is no snow on the ground (though I am enjoying Houston a little!). I've had a lot of support from family and friends while I've been here and I am so thankful for everyone who came or helped out at home. Shana and my mother have been here since 12/22 with me and are taking such great care of me and I hope they know how much I love and appreciate them for everything they have done and all they have sacrificed (same goes for my dad, who went back to Syracuse last week). I can’t wait to get back to work and back to normal (at least what I think of as normal) sometime in the next few weeks.

I am working on getting the video and pictures from the surgery - still mulling over whether I will post them here or not, but I am anxious to see them. Thanks for reading my blog and thanks so much for all of the messages and support. I thank god everyday for all my wonderful family and friends and the messages, emails, texts and phone calls really keep me going. I am a pretty lucky guy.

Feeling Great!

Hey everyone. Let me first say THANKS so much for all the amazing support you've given me and my family over the last few days. We are blessed to have the family and friends we have and your messages, prayers, emails, texts, etc really mean a lot to me. We had a nice caravan of people here in Houston to support us - between my family and Shana's family, and I hope they all know how much it meant to have you all here. I also need to say thanks to the people who have been waiting on me hand and foot for the last few days - Shana, Mom, Dad, Matt and Liz...I love you guys so much.

The surgery was pretty much the easiest thing I've ever done. I remember being wheeled away from my family, telling them all I love them and then joking around with the anesthesiologistas like 100 people worked around me to get the operating room ready. My next memory, after that is waking up in the ICU with my family around telling me how well things went (I had no idea what they were talking about). The next few days were tuff, as they are on anyone that has open heart surgery, but now, five days later, I am ready to get out of the hospital and start getting ready for the next step. The pain is still there, but it's amazing how in 2-3 days it went from horrible (like keeping me from walking, getting up, etc) to just an annoyance. Just like my last surgery, it took them a day or two to figure out how to treat my pain, and once they got it under control things got MUCH better for me!

I am excited that the surgery was such a success. It feels really strange to sit here and know that this tumor, that's changed my life so significantly, is no longer in my heart. It hasn't really sunk in yet, I don't think. I am so relieved Dr. Reardon was able to remove 100% of it, and get clean margins, as I think that's very important moving forward. I am very excited about getting the pathology report on the tumor...we were told that most of it looked dead, but the question is how much. If it's 100% dead that means my treatment (chemo and WillPower!) is dominating this cancer, and can be an indicator as to how the treatment has worked in the other parts of my body this cancer has impacted. Dr. Ravi told us, as we left his office back in October, "if it's 100% dead, we will have something to celebrate". Even if it's 95% dead, I think that will be a huge victory.

I am not sure what to think about the sternum not coming out...we were told by every oncologist we've consulted with over the last 14 months that it would need to come out. I am happy to hear that it looked good, but part of me wonders if it will have to come out eventually anyway. We will have to go back to Dr. Ravi on that, but I think it's a minor issue at this point considering there are two other known spots where the cancer is/was (spine and rib) and those bones are still there. I am under the impression, however, that to go for a cure would include removing these at some point, which would include my sternum.

I have to say thanks as well to the surgeons, doctors, nurses, PCA's, etc at Methodist hospital. For the most part, they have all been wonderful to us. We've met some very caring medical professionals here and are very thankful for them. I will have a lot to post about in the next week or so and once my mind clears up a little and I get out of the hospital I think my thoughts will be much clearer!

Thanks again for all the support - I couldn't do this without my family and friends. I am working on responding to everyone in the next couple days (I hope you all know I can't respond to the comments section in this blog or I would respond to every one...but I do read them, multiple times!).

Still Recovering

Will's first night in ICU was a stressful one to say the least. In ICU there are six beds and three nurses constantly taking care of six patients. As to be expected, Will was in a lot of pain. The pain that he experienced the first night was the same pain he had the night he had the pericardial window done. Unfortunately, we were not able to sleep over night with him in ICU, so we were not there to console him. That is the hardest thing about being a loved one with someone in the hospital. You want him to always have a familiar face around him. The nurses in ICU are amazing! We got the best care there. Yesterday, Will was moved from ICU to a private room. This facility mostly has private rooms. He has been in a great deal of pain since coming out of surgery. The night he came out of surgery, they had to move him because they needed to change his sheets on his bed. Will said that the pain was excruciating when they moved him to change his bed. ICU nurses seemed to know how to alleviate some of the pain. Thank God, Team McCaffrey is here. With the collaborative effort from knowledgeable nurses in our family, and the relentless, "We aren't taking No for an answer" attitude, they are now giving him a narcotic that allows him to be comfortable. Last night, Will predominantly slept in his chair, and this morning he wanted to move from the chair to the bed. It is heart wrenching to hear the person that you love the most say, "I am going to die from this pain." We immediately got the nurse's attention, and she brought him some more pain meds. He is now back to sleep.

Even though, he really has no idea what day or time it is, I know that he is thinking (subconsciously ) about his Nana's house. Will's family has a tradition every Christmas Eve that they go to his Nana's house. This will be the first year in thirty years that Will be missing it. Even though, he will be there in spirit, it is just not the same. He just absolutely adores his Nana.

Will and I hope that everyone has a wonderful holiday and a fantastic New Year. In the midst of opening Christmas presents, drinking Egg Nog, and having a festive dinner, please remember to tell each other how much you love each other. I have been given the best Christmas gift EVER!

Thank you again for all of the prayers, thoughts, and love being sent our way!

Final Update

I am in the waiting room for 8:30 to come around because that will be the last time that we will be able to see Will tonight. I am so proud of him. When Liz, his sister, calls him Superman, or other people say that Will is Superhuman, they ain't kidding. He looks great, but he is in a great deal of pain. He has an incision from the middle part of his top chest to right above his navel. He is doing so well (considering his situation). He is truly a fighter. The nurses are scrambling around the other patients, and Will is just doing his own thing. They had to put a pace maker on him because his heartbeat went down to 39, 50 is where they want him. At one point, they thought he was anemic, but once again Will did a "Willpowerism," and he bounced back from that, so at this point, they are not going to give him blood. Dr. Reardon has visited him twice since surgery, so when I say that he is in good hands, he is in the BEST hands. This place is unbelievable! I can't say enough good things about this place. He drank some grape juice when I was in the ICU with him.

Thanks again to everyone for EVERYTHING that you have done for us. We wouldn't be where we are right now if it wasn't for your constant support. We hope that you have a great holiday and wonderful New Year... bring on 2010!

Got To See Him

We were all taken into ICU about fifteen minutes ago. Initially, we were all expecting the worst, but he looked great!

His nurse's name is Tracy, and her bedside manners are amazing. Immediately, we fell in love with his nurse. She gave us a tour of the many "lines" that he is connected to, and he is connected to a lot. She also told us about their strict visiting hours, but instead of just stating them, she also gave an explanations for each.

At this time, we are only allowed to visit him one at a time. Our spirits are lifted, and we are so grateful for the way they take care of us, and the way they are taking care of Will. We are in good hands at Methodist Hospital.

Simply, thank you!

Surgery is Done

One of the nurse's assistants asked for the McCaffrey family at 10:45. We were very nervous because I immediately thought something went wrong. The nursing assistant would not tell us anything. All she said was that we had to wait to get into the ICU unit, and a nurse will tell us information. It seemed like an endless walk to ICU even though it is only 30 yards away from where we were waiting. On the other side of the door was Dr. Reardon. He gave us the best news. The tumor was out, and surgery was done. It was even better when he told us that they didn't take the manubrium out because they didn't need to. The manubrium looked too good for it to be taken out. He said that it will take an hour for them to get him out of OR to ICU. I have truly received the best Christmas present EVER! The number of prayers that we have received is the number of "Thank You"s I have for each and every one of you. You have lifted his spirits up! Go Willpower!

9:30 Update

Surgical Liaison just told us that the tumor is out, and they sent the tumor to Pathology. Everything is going well in the operating room.