Surgery Round Two...Jimmy - 2 and Cancer - 0

4.15.14

We had a very nervous night last night in anticipation of the surgery.   It was hard to get to sleep and even harder to get up at 4am.  It was stressful to have to make arrangements for Logan for the day with two different friends and equally as stressful worrying about how my MIL was getting to the hospital.

We got to the hospital at 6am for a 7:30 surgery.  And, yes, you guessed it...surgery didn't start until 9:30.  After 2 hours, we were told that the surgery was going well but they were going to be at least another hour or so.  The surgery ended up lasting for 3 1/2 hours.  The doctor came to talk to me after the surgery and explained that the delay was that they had to make sure they got everything they needed to get with the scope without having to cut him open and take a piece of rib.  This decreases Jimmy's pain and recovery time significantly than if he had had to be cut open.  Pathology did confirm what we knew...that the tumors were in fact sarcoma that had metastasized.  After surgery, Jimmy was brought to ICU and was breathing on his own, which was very good.

When I got to the room, Jimmy looked pretty good.  His face was a little swollen.  He was very tired looking and completely stoned...haha.  He was talking and coherent though.  And, thank goodness for the pain pump to keep him from feeling any pain while the anesthesia wore off.  He has 3 small incisions from the scope and a chest tube to drain the excess fluid and blood from his lung.  He also had a catheter...yuck.  All in all, surgery was a wonderful success.  I can't tell you how relieved we both are that the doctor did not cut him open.  I stayed until they brought Jimmy his oh-so-yummy liquid dinner, which he didn't eat and I didn't stay too long after that.  He really needed to rest and I needed to get home to Logan.  It was a very long and stressful day and I'm glad its over.

After surgery...looking pretty good

With his "lung" pillow for everyone to sign..haha

All hooked up

4.16.14

I went to visit Jimmy and he looked so much better than the day before.  He was sitting up in a chair when I got there and he had walked a few laps around the unit already. The nurse had also removed the catheter by the time I arrived.  Jimmy said it was painful and he was happy it was gone.   I brought him Starbucks coffee to start the day and I brought one of his favorite foods for lunch...chicken cutlets...with my homemade honey mustard sauce, since he was told he could go back to a regular diet today.  I was able to give him a sponge bath as well (hee hee hee) and he looked and felt better just getting clean.  They took him off IV pain meds and started him on meds by mouth, which meant they could remove one of the monitors he was hooked up to...one less thing to drag around when he got up.  It was a relaxing visit...I napped and snored a little while he sat in a chair watching tv...some visitor I was..haha.  I did have to leave earlier than I thought, since my MIL wasn't sure she could get home in time for Logan to get home from school.  I didn't want to leave Jimmy but I had to get home.

I called to check on Jimmy and had started to feel really bad.  He was in pain and had started to run a slight fever.  I was worried, especially since I left early.  When the doctor came in a little later, he said that a slight fever was okay and that they would watch it to make sure it didn't get too high.  If this is the only issue he deals with while in the hospital, we'll take it.  This has been so much better than we expected...thank you Jesus.

As always, we appreciate all of the prayers, support and the outpouring of concern for Jimmy's health and the well-being of our family.  Thank you so much.

Surgery...AGAIN

4.9.14

Well, it has been an interesting couple of weeks.  After we found out that Jimmy's cancer had metastasized to his lungs, we were hesitant to tell our son, Logan, what was going on until we had a plan in place with the doctors.  We waited almost a week to tell him, since he had a big week at school with state testing and a karate tournament that we really wanted him to focus on.  The Saturday after we found out, we sat down with him and told him that Daddy had to have surgery again and that it would take several weeks for him to recover.  At first, he didn't understand that the cancer had come back.  He and I talked later that day and he then realized that the cancer was back and that it wasn't good.  Its amazing what kids remember.  He remembered my husband and I talking about what if the cancer spread to his lungs several months ago. Logan seemed to take the news okay but I know that he is worried about his Dad.

I hate that Jimmy has to go through this again and so soon.  We were given basically two types of procedures to consider.  Surgery or Cyberknife.  We opted for surgery to completely remove the tumors and get them out of his body.  This was not an easy decision but one which we decided was best for Jimmy and for our family.  Here's a little more about how we made our decision.

We met with the surgeon to see what would be done.  The surgery will take out 2 tumors.  The first and largest tumor will be relatively easy to get to and the surgeon can remove it with a scope.  The second tumor might be harder to get to and the surgeon thinks he may have to make a large incision in Jimmy's back that will run under his arm to get to it.  He will also have to take a small piece of rib to do this.  A resection of his lung will be done at this site to remove the tumor.  This does not sound pleasant at all.  With any luck, the surgeon can get to both tumors with only the scope.  Recovery from the surgery will be anywhere from 2-3 weeks with the scope and 4-6 weeks with the big incision.  Ugh.

We did also speak to a radiation oncologist that does the Cyberknife procedure to see if this was a good option.  The Cyberknife procedure itself is non-invasive.  But, there is a needle biopsy procedure that has to be done prior to radiation and is requires a needle to be inserted into the lung.  This does have risks, which might cause Jimmy to be hospitalized with a chest tube if his lung were to collapse.  The Cyberknife procedure is also spread out over several weeks and will encompass a lot of time.  By the time the Cyberknife process would be over, he would have already recovered from the surgery he would have had instead.  Also, there is the exposure to additional radiation with this procedure and the tumors would still be in his body.  Given all of the information we received, surgery was the best option.

Now that is has been decided, we just wait until next week.  The anticipation of waiting is nerve wracking for everyone, especially Jimmy.  He is not looking forward to the surgery at all...not that I blame him.  I pray that all goes well and we won't have to deal with this again.  Again, I am asking for your prayers and support that we get through this next hurdle.

On a side note, the day after we found out about the cancer coming back, I was in the shower and Jimmy has a shaving mirror in there, I saw the word "Believe" as clear as day in the mirror.  I am taking that as a sign that all will be okay even though I haven't seen it again.  Jimmy and I had also planned a date night on April 17th. We have to cancel it but hopefully, we will be able to reschedule it again soon.

Also, my blog has now reached people in 50 countries.  I hope it has given insight, advice and comfort to others who may be dealing with cancer.  I appreciate your emails so much and my prayers go out to those who are also dealing with sarcoma.

I will update again after surgery.