This post will be used to provide all updates on Christy’s surgery today. All times are PDT.
June 8, 2026
7:38 AM Christy is off to surgery
11:50 AM The surgery is still in progress, but there is nothing else to report. It is expected to go until 3:00 PM.
3:00 PM Christy is still in surgery, and there is nothing to report.
4:07 PM 4:06 PM Christy is out of surgery and in recovery. I’ll post a report on the surgery as soon as we hear more.
June 9, 2026
11:42 AM Christy is resting, and they are doing a great job managing her pain. She is very pleased with the care she is getting. They did an MRI last night to see how much tumor is left, but no results yet. We are still waiting for more details on the actual surgery, but we do know that they did a spinal fusion from T5 to T10 and put in some titanium screws. They just came to fit her for a back brace, and it sounds like they will begin physical therapy today.
June 10, 2026
1:46 PM We’re still waiting for details; however, we were told that they removed all of it from the spinal cord, but they are still waiting for details from the MRI. Christy is walking with a walker and looks 100 times better today. She is fully alert and in great spirits.
June 11, 2026, From Christy – Final update for this post
The surgeon said they got everything they could see. There really wasn’t much they couldn’t get to, and he feels confident they removed all visible cancer during surgery.
They did have to remove some of my spine that had cancer in it. The plan is that in a couple of weeks, I will most likely start radiation treatments to target anything that may still be remaining in the spine.
A couple of good things came out of this surgery. They were able to get a fresh sample of my cancer, and I have already arranged to have it sent to Oasis of Hope. This will give them a much more recent pathology report on my actual cancer and hopefully provide additional information for future treatment options.
Another positive is that I have been living with excruciating back pain for almost a year now. The pain I feel at the moment seems much more related to the surgery itself than the pain I was experiencing before. I’m hopeful that by removing the tumor and decompressing everything they needed to, the constant back pain may finally be behind me.
I still have a road ahead of me, but today I’m grateful. Grateful for a successful surgery, grateful for the skilled surgeons and medical team, and grateful for all of the prayers, support, messages, and love that have carried me through this.