As of 10 pm CST on Wednesday, we are still waiting on the pathology reports from the biopsies taken yesterday. However we have learned a lot from the battery of tests. Here are the bullet points which may differ slightly from what some of you have heard if you called today because the chief surgeon came in and talked with us this evening. He was able to pull a lot of pieces together:

• There are multiple tumors and/or masses which are all attributed to the large mass around the cecum. (The cecum is the junction where the small and large intestines meet and where the appendix is located.)
• The mass at the cecum is both inside and outside the colon.
• There is a collection of fluid in the pelvis which is most likely fluid from the mass. Or there is a possibility that its another mass. At first they referred to this as an abscess but they are reluctant to use that term now after further study of the CT Scan.
• There are three tumors in Lois’ liver. One of those tumors is in the middle of the liver and has doubled the size of the liver. There are two other smaller tumors on either side of the larger one.
• Surgery is scheduled for Thursday at 10:45 and is expected to last 4-5 hours plus one hour of prep and at least one hour in recovery.
• For this surgery, they will deal only with the mass in and around the cecum and the fluid/mass in the pelvic area.
• Although they expect to send Lois back to her same room, there is a good possibility that she will go to Surgical Intensive Care.
• The surgeon is quite confident that he can reattach the small and large intestines but there is some possibility of a colostomy.
• Post-operative care in the hospital is expected to last seven days.

By dealing with the mass at the colon and in the pelvis, the medical team feels Lois will be able to heal from this surgery and prepare to start Chemo in 6-8 weeks. They want to try to shrink the tumors in the liver to a size where surgery is an option. Right now the tumors are too large to even consider surgery at the liver.