Tessie's Surgery...

On a personal note...

A lot of you who know Tess and I personally know she has not felt well over the last year.

Tess had surgery last Thursday to remove an extremely painful cyst that had developed over the last two years. The surgeon did not want to remove the cyst when it was around 2.5 to 3.0 cm in size because there was the chance that the cyst could go away on its own.

However, the cyst doubled in size to nearly 5.5 cm in the last month alone. To put it another way, her cyst was around the size of a golf ball...

The surgeon did not know whether the cyst would be attached to any other tissues when the surgery proceeded. As soon as he was able to view the cyst, he determined it was not cancerous and would be able to be removed without abrasion to other tissues or organs.

The cyst itself had torsioned (wrapped) around itself four times. The surgeon said the likelihood that the cyst would have dissolved by itself was zero, and it only stood to get larger and more painful as time continued.

Tessie had the surgery at Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula with Dr. Bruce Lee--her surgeon since 1994 and OB/GYN since before that. He also delivered Calvin in 1999 at the same hospital--so we go way back with Dr. Lee and trust him very much.

Dr. Lee is also a pioneer in the treatment of fibroids and we are fortunate to have him conduct the surgery.

The surgery was laparoscopic in nature--the entire surgery took place via three large needles versus a large open incision. The surgery was conducted at CHOMP because there was the possibility of further complications arising from unknown obstacles not readily seen on her MRI's and ultrasounds. Thankfully, nothing further was noted and Tess was able to come home the same day.

We are in Monterey at the moment and travel home either Monday or Tuesday. Tess will be out of action for at least 1-2 weeks and I'll be picking up a lot of her duties at the house.

She could really use a phone call or two to help keep her spirits up. If you don't have the number, please e-mail me at tloomis@silverado.cc