So much to say! This morning Piper was scheduled for surgery at Duke. After a few scheduling delays, they finally started surgery around 12:30. Things went well. It took about 4 hours. We spoke with both surgeons when they finished. As expected, they removed the full right kidney. They removed about 20% of her left kidney as well. They removed all visible tumors! She did well. She didn't lose a lot of blood.
They ran another test on Monday to determine how her (then) existing kidneys were balancing the kidney function. They determined from that test that her left kidney was already carrying about 2/3 of the load. This means that there should be less chance for the need for dialysis. (Very good news!)
So, she is now in the PICU (pediatric intensive care unit). She will remain there for another day or two. She has a very large incision that will require a lot of healing. She has a variety of tubes and IV's in addition to her port being accessed. We do not know what the next week or so will look like, but I am feeling optimistic. We haven't been told if she will still need more chemo or not. We are expecting that she will have another 6 weeks, though.
For now, she is resting. I pray that she sleeps peacefully tonight. We thank you all for your continued prayers and support. We had so many people praying for our little girl today. I felt like I had God's army standing right behind me. I hope Piper felt it too!
