Gotta Love Baltimore HON!

For the time being it’s up to me to bring everyone up to speed. I’ll start out by saying that Betsy is now checked in to Mercy Medical Center in downtown Baltimore. Today Betsy will go through a number of things to prepare for the big show tomorrow; more on that later.

One of the pre operative procedures actually occurred last Monday when Betsy had an inferior vena cava filter installed. Briefly, an inferior vena cava filter is a medical device that is implanted into the inferior vena cava to prevent fatal pulmonary emboli (PEs). After surgery Betsy’s mobility will be severely diminished for several months, so to mitigate the risk of a PE (of which I have first hand experience) essentially his filter breaks up clots before they get to your heart and downstream into the lungs or worse, the brain. I want to extend kudos to radiologist Robert P. Liddell, MD for his exceptional explanation of the procedure and to the radiology/imagining staff for their attentiveness.

Since then Betsy has been getting her ducks in a row for an extended absence from work. I know that this time away from work will be hard on Betsy. With the seasonal flu fast approaching and the swine flu (no political correctness here) pandemic already putting added demands on the health department staff, Betsy thinks the timing of her hospitalization just sucks. Of course, we all think that reason for her being here in the first place sucks even more. On a side note, when Betsy was admitted this morning they asked if she had gotten a flu shot, with great pride she averred that she had, explained what she did for a living and put a plug in for the program.

I’m won’t go into a long litany of the today’s festivities. Suffice it to say the pre surgical routine involves ingesting a fair amount of clear liquids and Gin&Tonic isn’t on the list.

The game plan for tomorrow is for Betsy to depart her room at 0645 with Armando Sardi, M.D. starting surgery promptly at 0740. Dr. Sardi is one of the select few surgical oncologists in the world who employs the leading edge procedure Intraperitoneal Hyperthermic Chemotherapy(IPHC) to treat advanced stages of abdominal cancers.

IPHC is an aggressive surgical treatment reserved for patients with peritoneal surface malignancies. The procedure, which can take up to 15 hours to perform, combines the extensive removal of cancerous tumors with a highly concentrated dose of heated chemotherapy applied directly to the peritoneal cavity.

There’s no one resource like Wikipedia that I can point you to for more info on IPHC.

After surgery Betsy will spend some time (estimated at a day or two) in the ICU then will be moved into a regular room. I’ll let you know the particulars when the time comes but if you haven’t planned a vacation yet come to Charm City where you can get a crab cake and VISIT BETSY, go drinking in Fells Point and VISIT BETSY, stop by the National Aquarium and VISIT BETSY, swing by the Shot Tower and VISIT BETSY.

That’s it for now, Please keep Betsy in your prayers and stop back often for updates.

PS: At last count there were ten different disciplines that met with Betsy today. Areas covered ranged form Pastoral Care to social work to pulmonary therapy, to nutrition and a bunch of other stuff. There's quite a team behind this so when you think or pray for Betsy please remember this group who do this work day in and day out.