A San Diego military wife, the mother of three, is the first in California to undergo a radical life saving surgery. Her liver was completely removed, reconstructed, and then replaced.
The operation removed a large cancerous liver tumor, one Keirsey (pronounced Keer-see) said she didn’t know she had until just six weeks ago.
“For the past couple of weeks I felt pain. I thought it was my Caesarean scar, or maybe an infection," she said. "I went to the doctor and they saw something on my liver -- they found a very large mass.”
Her surgeon, Dr. Alan Hemming of UCSD Medical Center, explained how the surgery was done.
“Pretty much the only way to deal with this was to take the tumor out by removing her liver completely from her body," Hemming said. "We cold-preserved it in a solution like we would for transplant patients. Then after very carefully taking the tumor out, and reconstructing the vessels involved, we transplanted the liver back into her.”
The operation took 8 hours. That’s double the time of a traditional liver-transplant surgery and it carries a 20-percent risk of death. But, just seven days later, Keirsey walked out of the hospital.
“I’m recovering very well for such an operation; I’m doing very well," she said.
Keirsey returned home yesterday. Her three children happily greeted her at home on Camp Pendleton, where her husband is stationed.
