Hello~

Mandy called shortly after 10:00 this morning to say that Chris is out of surgery. She has not seen him yet, but has talked with the surgeon.

Yesterday, in preparation for the surgery, Chris was given one unit of platelets and two units of blood. However, this morning before surgery, his platelet count was still low, so on the way to surgery at 6:30, they were giving him another unit of platelets.

Surgery began at 7:40, but because the tumor was entwined with a lot of blood vessels, there was excessive bleeding and it took the surgeon until 8:20 to get that under control so he could begin the surgery. The surgeon removed the new tumor growth, drained the fluid from around the muscle, then removed the metal plate and hollowed out the bone cement that was used last November to fill that tumor site. They filled the bone with an antibiotic spacer which is basically bone cement infused with antibiotics. After Chris heals and the swelling goes down (in approxiately 2-4 weeks) the surgeon will go back in and will do the partial shoulder replacement and will remove any residual tumor. However, the surgeon does believe that he got most of the tumor today. The metal plate that was removed will be sent off to pathology so that cultures can be run.

Mandy said that even as Chris was being taken to surgery this morning he was in very good spirits and was joking with the doctor and nurses. He asked the surgeon to please keep the tumor. The doctor asked why, and Chris said because he wants to beat it up!

Chris is still having issues with fever and because of that and because of the surgery he will be kept in ICU overnight tonight so that he can be monitored. Mandy will let us know as soon as they get back to a regular room.

She asked for prayer for quick and thorough healing for Chris so that he will be ready to have the next phase of the surgery soon. They also need prayer for Chris to be able to have the proper treatment following these surgeries -- this includes radiation on the arm at the tumor site, the proper physical therapy so that he can regain mobility in that arm, as well as chemo that is compatible with radiation.

Mandy could not express how much everyone's prayers mean to them. Thank you all so much!

Love,Kathie