Update

[Guest guest]

Roy, and Tory,

Thank you, Roy, for cutting and pasting the information about Tory.

What a story. I guess the good news is that the physician knew his

limits and made an excellent decision sending her to another expert

in the field.

My assumption is that the move will be made today and the surgery

will happen as soon as they can arrange it.

My husband is recovering from a Stem Cell Transplant as a treatment

for Renal Cell Carcinoma (Kidney cancer) and so I can relate to the

emotions you are going through. I hope you have lots of support

there for you right now. In order for you to be there for Tory, you

have to take care of yourself - don't forget. Nothing better than

having your spouse nearby and fighting for you.

We'll be here when you have news. Please know that I'll be sending

strong healing thoughts your way. It all helps. Take care.

Alison in Maine

[Guest guest]

Oh Roy,

Im really praying hard for her.

Bev

ps. *hugs* to you both

> From Tory's website...

>

> [1/21/2003 11:04:29 PM | Tory Klementsen]

> This is a quick update for anyone who would like to know Tory's

status.

> This is Roy, her husband, and she wanted me to update you. Tory

went in

> for surgery this morning at 5:30 a.m. We sat around the holding

area for

> about an hour before she was wheeled away with one last " I love

you " to

> her. I waited in the surgery waiting room for about two hours

before the

> doctor came in.The news wasn't very pleasant and not what we were

> hoping. Her simple surgery to remove a growth didn't seem to go as

the

> doctor had hoped. He couldn't remove the " tumor " from the pancreas

for

> fear that it was too close to a pancreatic gland. He didn't want to

take

> that chance because it would've altered her lifestyle for, well, the

> rest of her life. He also didn't seem to confident on doing the

surgery

> himself, since he only does these every once in a while.

Encouraging,

> huh? His solution is pretty severe, and I'm sure it's not one that

Tory

> is looking forward to. He's going to have her moved to another

hospital

> in Seattle where they perform operations like the one that he has in

> mind. To assist me, the doctor created a map of her insides to

explain

> what needed to be done. He drew me the pancreas first with his

artistic

> representation of the tumor (not very pretty looking.) He then drew

her

> stomach and the duodenum leading from the stomach to the

intestines. He

> also drew in some glands as well for apparent realism. He then

explained

> how they need to cut out the duodenum from the bottom of the

stomach to

> the top of the intestine, and also remove (what looks like) 1/4 of

her

> pancreas with the tumor. He then explained the tricky part of

rerouting

> the glands in that area and how he could do this, but their would

be a

> 25-30 percent chance of ongoing problems if he did. To further make

> things miserable, when asked if the " tumor " could be cancerous, he

said

> that there was a minimal chance but they couldn't know for sure

until it

> was removed and put under the old microscope. Super, huh? I took the

> news well while the doctor was explaining it, but as soon as he

left, I

> turned to Jello. Minutes later, I called Tory's mom with the news

and

> then I morphed into mush...and usually I'm a pretty tough guy...as

you

> can see by my pictures with assorted Disney characters. A few hours

> later, Tory was wheeled into the recovery room and then finally to

her

> home for the night, room 622 at Providence Hospital (Colby Campus)

in

> Everett, WA. I waited patiently for the nurse to finish up before I

> spoke to her. Her first words were " What did the doctor say? " Ouch.

I

> explained what I was told and held her hand as she cried saying how

> sorry she was. Like this was something that she planned and it was

all

> her fault. Silly girl. After about an hour she seemed to be feeling

> better. When she was first wheeled into her room she was in quite a

bit

> of pain, but now she's fine with her constant morphine drips. She's

> sleeping now, so I ran home to take care of the dogs and to update

> everyone who has asked about her. I'm heading back to the hospital

now.

> Thank you everyone who has written. It looks like this will be a bit

> longer away from the computer than she was planning, but I'm sure

all

> will be well. God bless, Roy

>

>

> A small 6:30 in the morning update:

>

> Tory and I had a rough time sleeping last night...She was in a lot

of

> pain due to her surgery, I was in a lot of pain due to sleeping on

one

> of the hardest chairs known to mankind.

>

> At 4:00 a.m. a nurse came in to help her by administering Valium.

Tory

> had never had this before. It wasn't very successful..in fact, she

> stopped breathing. I had to try to keep her from falling asleep and

to

> remind her to continue breathing until the the nurse and others

could

> reverse the effects.

>

> Any sleep at that point that we were planning on getting was thrown

out

> the window.

>

> Tory's mom will be arriving this morning and Tory should be

transported

> to Seattle today. Her doctor didn't update us on when exactly that

would

> be happening, but I trust we'll hear from him this morning.

>

> Tory thanks you for your prayers and wishes.

>

> I thank you too!

>

> Roy

>

>

>

>

~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`

~`

> Tory Klementsen, MCP A+

> Career and Technology Educator

>

> The successful person will do things that the unsuccessful person

will

> not.

>

>

>

>