Another update

An update on Palmer from my Aunt Mary Alice.

Hello all,

I know this is more information than some of you want, but there are some of you that want the details! So here goes!!!

Palmer’s surgery went very well last Friday. His 4-5 hour surgery lasted about 3.5 hours. The surgeron removed the right lobe of his liver and a part of the left which totaled about 70% of the liver being removed. He then used a process called radio frequency ablation (nuked) on the remaining portion. Palmer did not require a blood transfusion, which is unusual for liver surgery. Dr. Hemming said the liver looked good and had responded well to the chemo. In other words the chemo had done the job they were hoping it would. Remember, the liver will rejuvenate itself, but I don’t know how long that will take. He was in recovery about one hour and then moved to ICU. However, it took about two hours before they got his pain medication pump working. Christy was in ICU during that time and she said after the third pump, the nurses begain taking parts of different ones and putting them together to get one to work! I think the one they put together worked very well, because that evening they took it from him for a while. He had gotten pretty loopy!

On Saturday, the doctor said he would be moved from ICU to an intermediate care room. However, that never happened on Saturday. Either they didn’t have a room or the skeletol crew for the week-end never got it together. He did get a liquid lunch and dinner on Saturday. The nurses said that normally patients did not get meals in ICU. When Christy called his nurse Saturday morning (she could not go into ICU before 11:00) to see how he was doing, the nurse reported he was complaining of being bored. I guess that was a good sign!

Palmer was moved from ICU on Sunday to a private room. Christy kept inquiring about his move and the head nurse in ICU wanted to know if there was a reason she was insisting that he be moved. She told her that Palmer’s brother was bringing John Palmer and Robbie to Gainesville to see their father and they couldn’t see him if he remained in ICU. The nurse assured her they would work something out. So a little before 2:00 he was transferred out of ICU. The boys had a good visit and were reassured that their father was doing well.

I talked with Christy this morning and she said they had taken the IV out and removed the pain medication pump. All medications will be administred by mouth. She said he was complaining about his room. He must be improving too fast!

One of Christy’s very good friends from high school lives in Gainesville and works in the stem cell research department at Shands (not the controversy research). Her husband also works at Shands. They come by frequently to check on how the patient is doing and how Christy is holding up. Christy has been staying with them at night. We don’t know when Palmer will come home. He was told originally that he would be in the hospital 7-10 days. Of course he is counting on less!

My sister Helen, came from North Carolina to help with the boys. She is doing very well following all the notes and instructions Christy left for school procedures, lunches, car pooling, baseball and football practice, piano and drum lessons, meals, homework, etc. What Christy didn’t plan for was a tropical storm with all the rain, losing power for five hours Thursday night and the cancelling of school on Friday. I am grateful that she was able to come. I couldn’t have done it without her help!

Christy and Palmer know they have been very blessed and are indeed grateful for all your prayers and well wishes. I know you will continue to pray for a complete recovery. Thank you!

Talk with you all later,
Mary Alice

Tired

A lot to talk about but too tired so I'll update tomorrow.

Another plane crash today.

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan - A passenger jet carrying 90 people, including a Kyrgyz high school sports team, crashed shortly after takeoff Sunday near the Kyrgyz capital, killing 68, government officials said.
The Boeing 737 was headed to Iran when it crashed near Bishkek's Manas International Airport, said government spokeswoman Roza Daudova. Twenty-two people, including two crew members, survived the accident.
Earlier, Daudova, had said there were at least 71 dead and 25 survivors, but she later gave lower figures.
An airport official said the crew reported a technical problem about 10 minutes into the flight and that the plane was returning to the airport when it crashed. The official said she was not authorized to give her name.
Officials said the crash followed the sudden decompression of the jet, which came down in a field near a village.
Among the survivors, were seven out the 17 members of the basketball team from a school in the capital, Bishkek, said Health Ministry spokeswoman Yelena Bayalinova. Presidential adviser Tokon Mamytov, however, later said that the athletes were volleyball, not basketball players.
Eighteen survivors were hospitalized, and four others were sent home with no serious injuries, according to Daudova.
Daudova said the people on board the plane included 24 Kyrgyz citizens, 52 Iranians, three Kazakhs, two Canadians, one citizen of Turkey and one Chinese.
Kyrgyz Interior Minister Moldomusa Kongatiyev said the plane went down 6 miles from the airport.
Maj. Damian Pickart, public affairs officer for the U.S. air base located at the Manas airport, said U.S. ambulances and firefighting equipment were dispatched to the crash site in response to a Kyrgyz request for help.
Several government officials said the plane belonged to Itek Air, a Kyrgyz company, but was operated by Iran Aseman Airlines. But Mamytov, the presidential adviser, said the plane was both owned and operated by Itek Air.
Itek Air has been banned from operating in the airspace of the European Union because of failure to meet safety and aviation standards, according to a list published by the EU July 24.
Kyrgyzstan is a poor, mountainous country west of China. The U.S. air base in the ex-Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan supports operations in nearby Afghanistan.
Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan and the country's largest city, has a population about 1 million and is situated in the northern part of the Central Asian nation.
Manas International Airport is about 16 miles northwest of downtown.


My prayers and thoughts go out to those families involved.

Update on Palmer

Palmer's surgery went well. There were some spots that they weren't able to get but they knew that going in. So they nuked them. He's still in ICU, Christy is staying with him as long as they will let her stay.

Today was a crazy day. Beside the fact that Palmer had his surgery today, the weather here in town was terrible. For the past few days the tropical storm has been hanging around. We had a few tornado warnings in the area but other than that I've been hanging out on the bed working, yes working, on my computer.

Tomorrow I leave for Charlotte for a total of about 24 hours. I didn't want to leave until Saturday in case something went wrong with Palmer's surgery. I'm going up to work at the Ricky Hendrick Charity Ride. I'm coming back home after it's over since I have class Monday morning.

Surgery

Palmer, my cousin, is having surgery in the morning. He discovered about 3 years ago that he had colon cancer. Now the cancer has spread to his liver. After the past couple of months of chemo, he is now having surgery to remove part of his liver.