Update as of 11:00 Tuesday

Mike's surgery ended around 4 yesterday afternoon, making it a 5 hour surgery!  Dr. Dickerman (surgeon) came and spent 15 minutes or so with us in the waiting room explaining the outcome of the surgery. I will try to explain it as best I know how!!  

They were unable to do what was planned due to the blood vessels...the major blood supply for his heart and liver would have been affected if they had proceeded as planned.  They did completely drain and remove the cysts that were still hanging around.  They did several things to help with the problems he was having: digestion issues and his bile duct not draining.  To help the bile duct drain, they rerouted it to bypass the obstruction from the pancreas. For the digestion, they removed part of his stomach... they found that his stomach was 3 x bigger than it should have been.  They said that since his food hasn't been digesting due to the obstruction, his stomach has been working harder to try and digest and has become enlarged. Reducing the size of the stomach and taking meds to help his digestion will help his food digest properly.  Everything wa s rerouted around the obstructed area since it couldn't be removed.

They did remove his gallbladder.  It could cause complication in the future and is not necessary to keep...as many of you know! :)

Now, when they finally did see his pancreas, they found that instead of being the size of three fingers, it is the size of a pencil.  This is due to the scarring from his pancreatitis.  His pancreas is not doing much due to its damage but Dr. Dickerman said he can take things to help with what the pancreas should do. One is taking insulin, the other is taking pancreatic enzymes.  He is already on insulin and will add pancreatic enzymes to his list.

He is doing well right now. He spent the night in ICU for them to monitor everything. The ICU doesn't allow you to spend the night and has visitor hours in 2 hour increments...2 hours visiting, 2 hours not visiting. Which has been kind of nice. We can go eat and rest without feeling guilty.  During our morning visi t earlier, an occupational therapist stopped by to help Mike get out of his bed and into a chair. He was still sitting when we left.  Dr. Dickerman's associate that assisted with the surgery stopped by and said they will be focusing on his pain management and breathing. There are some breathing techniques that will keep him from developing pneumonia. He should be eating in 3 days or so.