The Staples have been removed from Kris' incision

With the staples

On Wednesday February 25 Kris had the staples and the drainage tube removed. See before and after photos. She is doing as good as one could expect having this much surgery. Despite having difficulty moving around and getting up, she gets a little better every day. The scar is healing nicely. She will starting another 9-week round of chemo on Tuesday March 10, 2015.

Without the staples

Kris Recuperating with Murray

On the couch with Murray

Recuperating from her surgery, Kris stays warm and reads on the couch with our goof ball dog, Murray, aka Muzzie. On Friday February 20 she had about half of her staples taken out, although she still has the drain on her abdomen. If she coughs or sneezes really hard she could still split open the sutures. We are going to see the oncologist for a full post-surgery briefing on Wednesday morning, February 25.

"Muzzie" relaxes on the couch

Desi & Murray holding Kris' spot on the bed for her

Desi and Murray sleeping on Kris' side of bed

Just about the cutest picture ever: when Kris was away in the hospital, Murray and Desi slept together on Kris' side of the bed, keeping it warm for her.

Home from the hospital

Belly Button Selfie

Kris came home this afternoon. She is in a lot of pain and discomfort, and still has a drainage tube attached to her abdomen. She mentioned that the last picture - the one of her in the hospital looking happy - made this look too easy. It is not easy.

Kris is sitting up

She didn't want her picture taken but I insisted in the name of public enlightenment and journalistic ethics. The henna on her head has faded but otherwise she is looking 100% better than yesterday. She is currently on a liquid diet. Her phone is still in her overnight bag so don't expect her to answer for a day or so. Not ready for visitors yet.

Kris is doing well after surgery

I just left Kris resting peacefully in her room. She was really out of it, on a morphine on-demand thingy, The surgery took over 4 hours.  I spoke to her surgeon oncologist dr blank afterwards who said that everything went very well - she thinks she removed all the cancer although they want her to do another round of chemo starting in about 3 weeks to make sure. They removed her ovaries, which did not have cancer, confirming the oncologist's original diagnosis of Primary Peritoneal Cancer. 

The worst news is she'll have a vertical scar on her abdomen and they had to remove her spleen - which the doctor says is not that big a deal. Kris will most likely be in hospital until Monday now. 

Surgery is Still On for Wednesday February 11, 2015

Kris with her new henna head!

The lymph node biopsy from last Thursday came back negative, so the cancer has not spread and the surgery is still on. HOWEVER, based upon her EKG and ER visit last Friday, Kris still has to see a cardiologist beforehand to make sure she is fit for the surgery. She has an appointment tomorrow, Tuesday. They are covering all bases. If she does have surgery Wednesday (and I will let you know) if you want to visit her in the hospital let me know so we can arrange it.

Four Doctors Appointments and One ER Visit

Kris and Murray the other night

On Monday February 2 we met the oncologist to review the latest scans in preparation for the surgery still scheduled for February 11. (The original review for Jan 27 had to be rescheduled due to the snow storm, which was why there was no new blog posts). The oncologist said she was pleased with the shrinkage in the lower abdomen, BUT she wanted to check her lymph nodes, which appeared slightly enlarged. This lead to a full body PET scan on Wednesday at 7AM, where Kris was literally radioactive for a day and had to stay 6 feet away from humans and pets (meaning keeping Murray and the cats away off her for 24 hours - not an easy task); on Thursday morning a lymph node biopsy at the hospital; and on Friday afternoon a pre-surgery screening examination at 3PM. During that exam the anesthesiologist became concerned about Kris' EKG and wanted her to go to the emergency room right then, in an ambulance no less (even though we had the car downstairs in subsidized valet parking and NYU Langone was 5 blocks away). She went right in and they ran a blood test looking for certain enzymes which would indicate some sort of heart trauma, they found nothing, and sent us home in about 3 hours, now 9 PM. We then went to Velselka for takeout again and came home to a film shoot still parked on our block (we moved some cones to park).

Overall, Kris still feels OK and never thought there was anything going on with her heart. It could have been anxiety, fatigue or a side effect of one of her drugs. New photos of Kris' latest henna tattoo will be posted shortly. She found a real artist from Flushing who made a house call.