I have been writing posts and not publishing them before I am satisfied with them...and so the signs of spring were actually listed along with the opening of the month of March, but the draft was not published until now. I finished that draft so that I would be able to publish the next one...that said my father is out of the hospital on March 3rd with a clean bill of health
And the next blog that continued the story of Mikes giant cell tumor on his right tibia just below the knee. Scheduled for surgery to remove the tumor on March 7th following his February 25th appointment with an orthopedic oncologist at UAMS in Little Rock. (see I Like Mike...blog if you are only now following this story and I won't repeat, only follow up here...)
Mike and I headed for Little Rock a little after 7 am yesterday morning. Was that only yesterday we left home? It seems like lots longer. His surgery was scheduled for noon and he was told to be there at ten so he could do some extensive pre op and since the two of us were anxious, we left home in plenty of time to arrive at the hospital before 8. Everything fell into place, we found a decent parking place and a wheel chair and checked in (and were given a pager so they could notify us when he should go to pre op) about 8:30. We went to the waiting room and talked about how hungry and thirsty and in need of a cup of coffee we both were ... and then our pager started buzzing and blinking. Before 9 o'clock we were in a pre op room and the doctor's assistants were coming in to take some of his blood and the anesthesiologists were coming in to put a nerve block that would deaden his lower leg... and they sent me out of the room.
They called me back in and the surgeon was in the room and Mike was saying that the nerve block they had attempted was not working and he still had all the feeling in his leg even though the anesthetist had tried 3 times to find the right nerve to deaden his lower leg. The young surgeon just said something about how those nerve blocks don't work on everyone...he drew some lines and put his initials on what he called "your baby" and explained that they would make a small window incision first to do a biopsy and that they'd page me again when they could tell me about whether Mike showed any cancer cells. After that, the overseeing surgeon, Dr. Nicholas came in and let him know it was time to go...and Mike asked him if they were going to shave his leg and give him a shot to mellow him out...and the answer was that they didn't need to and the techs came in to wheel his bed off to surgery and I went back to waiting room with my pager...and the coffee was freshly dripped and smelled really good...and I fixed myself a cup of it and I waited. Mike was off to surgery a little before ten...
A couple of hours later they called me to the desk to tell me that the doctor had sent me word about the biopsy. There was no sign of cancer...all the cells they removed from his giant giant cell giant tumor were completely cancer free. Good news! Everything was going well and all there was left for me to do was wait until the surgery was finished, the post op and recouperation from the anesthesia was complete and then I would be able to see Mike and how well he had tolerated the surgery. The wait got long and I fell asleep wondering 'why DO they call what doctors do practice?'
It was almost three in the afternoon before my pager buzzed and flashed again...Dr. Nicholas came to talk to me...and we went to a room with a chalk board so he could draw me an illustration...but there was no pen for the white eraseboard so he drew his illustration on paper and showed me Mike's "after" xray. Mike and I had been waiting to hear from Dr. Nicholas after the surgery to find out if we'd go home that afternoon or if Mike would need to spend the night. By every indication, if all went well, we'd be able to go home so I was sure the doc was going to give me instructions for taking care of Mike at home and changing his dressings...
But that was not the case. Doctor Nicholas told me that after the biopsy, knowing that the tumor at the top of Mike's lower right leg was a tumor that needed to be removed, they began the surgery only to find out right away the answer to the question every doctor had asked...whether there was enough bone left at the top of the bone to be able to remove the tumor, cement the open area and start Mike on his road back to using his leg...the answer was...'no, there wasn't. As a matter of fact, the tumor had absorbed most of the bone on the right top side leaving that area open and not easily filled and at the top, the bone was already broken in two places because so much of it had been absorbed and it was too thin for the breaks to ever heal. What the doctor said was that Mike was in need of a complete knee replacement in order to make the top of the leg work together with the bottom so that he would be able to bend and turn his leg the same way he could before. The good news is that he has the 2nd surgery scheduled already for next Thursday so Mike will have the option to stay in the hospital and take no chances with travel or with infection. The bad news...even after the surgery Mike won't be able to jog or to enter the sprint race in the Olympics!
I told the doctor that Mike was just anxious to be able to walk again without crutches and asked when he would be able to tell Mike that news. And so it is today. I am sitting in the mornings quiet at the hospital, Mike asleep in the bed beside me snoring! I didn't get to this room until about six o'clock last evening and he didn't arrive until a half hour later. Mike asked, so I broke the bad news to him last night and I told his brother on the phone and his daughter via email. He has been in agony, but he has managed to do all the things he has been told to do including bear wrappings so tight as to be nearly unbearable, swallowing to take medications even though his throat is making him want to scream after the surgery breathing tube, feeling pain and needing to wait for a long time before his next dose, starving since the day before yesterday, and keeping his leg absolutely still (even through a ct scan)...thank goodness he is able to sleep!
Speaking of which, I notice that the lights have gone off on the Capitol building in the Little Rock skyline. I need to get a little sleep myself.
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