A Beautiful Day in Palo Alto

Palo Alto enjoys some very nice weather year-round. And, Stanford Hospital is a beautifully designed and landscaped place. You don’t want to have to be here, but they seem to realize that an aesthetically pleasing environment can help with healing. As I mentioned before, her room has a huge window that looks out on a gorgeous landscape. 

That’s her room from the outside:

And yes, I have plenty if time on my hands right now. 😁

Kristi is resting fairly well this morning — and she is coherent and able to speak with nurses and doctors when they visit. Of course she’s having pain, which they are proactively managing. Although now she needs to recover from the surgery, having the gut problem fixed now gives a certain kind of relief. They’ve already mentioned a couple times that they want her up and walking a little today. Hopefully the NG tube will come out tonight or tomorrow morning. Although I think she’s quite used to it by now, she’ll be happy when it comes out. 

She did make one lap around the unit before I left. 

I’ll be coming home this evening. DJ is going to spend tonight with her and Emma will spend Monday night and maybe Tuesday night with her.

We decided in the beginning to write this blog primarily to keep family and friends apprised of Kristi’s health issues. We soon found out that keeping a record for ourselves is a great secondary benefit. Therefore, we do include a lot of detail at times. Today I am including a summary of the surgeon’s report of yesterday’s surgery.  So, for the curious, this is exactly what they did …

Here’s a clear layman’s summary of Kristi’s surgical report from October 18, 2025:

Summary of the Surgery

Kristi’s operation was done to fix a small bowel obstruction, which happened because a tumor in her small intestine caused a section of the bowel to fold into itself (a condition called intussusception). The surgery also included removing her gallbladder (because it was inflamed) and repairing a small hernia in her abdominal wall.

Main Findings

1. Tumors in the Small Intestine:
   
• The surgeons found several small tumors in her small intestine:
  
• One 3–4 cm tumor in the middle section that caused the blockage.
• One 2 cm tumor near the beginning of the small intestine.
• One 1.5 cm tumor near the end of the small intestine.
• The first two tumors were attached by thin stalks and were removed directly.
• The last one (the one that caused the blockage) was broader and deeper, so they removed that entire short section of bowel and reconnected the ends.
2. Gallbladder:
   
• The gallbladder was very inflamed and had scar tissue sticking to nearby organs (duodenum and colon).
• The surgeons carefully removed it (cholecystectomy) without complications.
3. Other Findings:
   
• They also saw a 4 cm tumor in the tissue near the sigmoid colon (lower part of the large intestine).
• This tumor was not blocking anything, so they left it in place for now, noting it could cause problems later and might be treated with a stent if needed.
• Because of Kristi’s widespread cancer, they decided that removing part of the colon at this time would be too extensive and unnecessary.
4. Hernia Repair:
   
• A small hernia in the abdominal wall was repaired during the same surgery 

How the Surgery Went

• Blood loss was minimal.
• The surgery was done through her previous midline incision.
• The bowel was reconnected after removing the diseased section.
• The abdominal wall was repaired and closed with a drain in place.
• Kristi was stable when the surgery ended and transferred to recovery.

In Plain Language

Kristi’s surgery went well. The doctors removed several tumors from her small intestine, including the one that was blocking her bowel. They also took out her inflamed gallbladder and fixed a small hernia. Another tumor near her large intestine was left for now since it wasn’t causing a problem. Overall, the procedure was completed safely, and Kristi came out of surgery in stable condition.