Up at 5:30 and packed into car by 5:45. We were an anxious bunch. But Beeker was at the Reception Desk at 4W waiting to check Ben in. Ben had already done his pre - op testing and we took a seat in the waiting room. We waited maybe 10 minutes before a nurse escorted Ben and me into his pre surgery room. After a little prep, they let me get Harry and Teresa. We watched the RN put the IV in Ben's arm, Dr. Seigne, the chief urology resident, Dr. Van Bibber, the anaesthesiologist and his resident came to visit to discuss the procedure and mark the correct side for surgery. They asked him his name and date of birth at the start of every conversation and about a dozen times what he was there for. You would think they would have known. Just kidding. Can't be too careful before you start a 5 hour Retroperitoneal Lymph Node Dissection on an apparently healthy 23 year old. Dr. Cavero, the anaesthesiologist, came back to give Ben some meds to rid him of any anxiety, which hit him in about 2 seconds and was acknowledged with a sedated "whoaa" from Ben as his eye lids slid comfortably to halfway shut and he held up two peace signs. Dr. Cavero then rolled him off into the operating room.
Terry (aka T), Teresa's Grandmother came and kept us occupied with some drawing (from class she and Teresa usually take on Thursday nights but Teresa missed this week so she could be Ben's Florence Nightengale) and conversation. Tracey, Teresa's Mom came by to keep us company with some fruit and water.
At 1:30ish, Dr. Kowal came to let us know they were closing up and everything went well. T was in the bathroom and managed to miss this. And feeling the need to explain her extended absence, she revealed to us that she was in fact painting her nails in the bathroom.
A seemingly tired, Dr. Seigne came out at 2:08 pm to let us know the surgery went smoothly, the lymph nodes did not appear to be enlarged!! They only had to take a small packet of lymph node. They also managed to spare the nerves! They sent the nodes off to pathology and we should know the results sometime next week (it will take a week at the most). Dr. Seigne was very pleased with the result of the operation as were all of us. Ben was supposed to wake up in an hour or two but it was close to 5 before they said two of us could go back to see Ben. T and Harry went back and I'm finishing this entry.
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