Tumor Resection 100% Successful!

We received a call early this morning explaining Raylee's surgery starts at 8:30 am and we were given the incorrect time to check in. I explained we were coming at 7:00 am for blood work as Raylee's blood needed to be matched. We were asked just to go to surgery pre-op and they would do the blood work there and then prep her for surgery. As the nurses prepared Raylee for surgery she showed off for them. She told them all about Parker the dog and howled like him (Parker is aunt Jody's dog but lives with grandma because he couldn't go to Japan with Jody's family). She also colored hers and Jerry's finger nails with a marker and the nurses just loved her and got a kick out of her. The surgeon came in our pre-op room and signed Raylee's belly....she wasn't happy about that. He said it was so the nurses knew whose patient she was. Later she showed all the nurses that he signed her belly because she was proud of it. He explained to us she would have an incision like a cesarean. He said it is easier to manage the pain with an incision that goes across instead of up and down. He also stated if he made the incision up and down it would be really high and really high. He said he was going to take his time and didn't schedule anything else for the day. He also told us a urologist would put the stints in her. I am really happy we decided not to wait for the other surgeon to come back from vacation. This one is awesome! Especially because after he was finished he came right out to tell us the entire tumor was gone--he resected all of it! He said the tumor was basically from pelvic bone to pelvic bone. He said it was more like the size of a softball instead of the size of a grapefruit. A softball is just a little bit smaller than an average size grapefruit. He was able to separate it from the arteries with no problems. He did not have to go through her bottom and he didn't have to remove any arteries or major vessels in the pelvic area. He stated her bladder was strectched by the tumor and only time will tell how the bladder will recover. Jorja wanted to know what color the tumor was; it was white and hard like scar tissue. He had to split it in several pieces to remove it and said it mostly looked like the benign cells. He said hopefully the Chemo did kill the malignant cells and that most of the tumor may be the mature benign cells. The tumor was sent to pathology for examination. I am sure Raylee will also have some scans to ensure all cancer cells are gone. He removed several lymthnoids in her pelvic area that had the cancer cells. It is such a relief to know the tumor is gone! We are so happy and hope you are as well! Raylee will be recovering for at least two weeks and will be in the hospital for at least one.
Her surgery started at 8:17 am and ended at 1:15 pm. It took 5 hours. She has an epidural for pain and will keep it for a few days. She is on oxygen and also has an arterial IV which means she had an IV that goes in an artery instead of a vain. They are only using her central line for blood draws (they kept this line in case she needs post surgery Chemo). The arterial IV has several tubes. She is now in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit and a nurse is by her bed side monitoring her. The nurse gives her pain meds through the epidural by the push of a button.....the button is pushed frequently. It doesn't seem to be as effective as we'd like so they are beginning Morphine. Raylee is just moaning and not as comfortable as she could be. The morphine will help. She has asked for some Cheerio's and said she wanted to go home. We are so excited to take her home and share this news with everyone! The surgeon said everything went better than he ever expected--we know that is because of all the positive thoughts and prayers out there for us and RAYLEE! When the surgeon told us he removed all of the tumor we cried tears of joy!