moving day

Here we are! I've managed to get access to the o.r. during the 6-10 hour procedure, so I'll be live-blogging every cut and suture to you throughout the day. I'm in my scrubs. Hopefully they will not ask me to hold anything because I nearly fainted during Rachel's birth so we'd rather not have that.

Just kidding. I'm in the waiting room. Becca has just gone into surgery after getting her first dose of la-la juice. The care remains at the high level we are accustomed to here.

Although this procedure is still new and therefore fairly rare overall, not so for the staff here. They've already done over 600 DIEP flaps and they will know exactly what to look for in the crucial 12-18 hours after the surgery is complete. This is the time period where they will know whether the transplanted tissue is surviving or is being rejected. Rejection only occurs in 2% of the cases and it's not life-threatening; it just means they will have to close up and start over after she heals in a few months. And she'll still have the tummy tuck so it wouldn't be a total loss, ha!

Obviously we are hoping for no rejection, and the odds are significantly in our favor, especially with our fantastic Dr. L. I asked him yesterday at the pre-op appointment how one goes about sewing something as small as blood vessels together. And first he said "very carefully" with a wry smile. He said it is a very focused task -- with a microscope and tiny tiny needles with a thin strand of nylon embedded in them to do the job. Incredible.

Yesterday at the pre-op appointment Becca got drawn all over with this purple sterile magic marker that showed all the plans for today. The incision for the tissue harvesting is hip-to-hip, and will be the main reason she'll have to keep up with her pain medications and take it easy for 1-2 weeks following the procedure.

Yesterday we also got a call from our oncologist saying good luck and that the results were back from the CT scan Friday. Everything was stable, and the patch in her lung (which is why they did the scan) is showing marked improvement, consistent with healing after an infection.

I guess that's all I have for now. I'll update this blog when there is any more news on the progress of surgery, but remember this is a long haul. The operating room is booked until 8:30pm! The nurses have told us not to worry if it takes much longer -- every case is different. Dr. L. said he has nothing else today -- he's there for as long as it takes.