James guest-posting..

Stine had her surgery today. It was definitely an early start but she was in good spirits but was limited to a small bag. The surgery started around 0720 and they just finished at 1430. Dr. Baumgartner called me after the procedures and stated the surgery went well with no surprises or findings of extra disease. They did have to dig into a bit of the diaphragm muscle to remove a small patch of tumor but there should be no long-term consequences. The colon resection also went as expected. There is the possibility of some good news, but we need to wait for confirmation from the lab. She has a gastric tube, which should be removed in two weeks, as well as a chest tube. I suspect she looks like a Borg applicant.

Stine will likely be in ICU for a few more hours, and then they believe she will be transferred to intermediate care. Her goal tomorrow will be to sit-up in a chair and she can have ice-chips and maybe a few small sips of beverage.

I am on my way down to try to deliver her Alpacas. Since the hospital is unlikely to accept such beasts, we worked all night training them to get into a suitcase. Hopefully security won’t notice the bleating or soft sounds of them chewing the zippers..