Spencer,
Today is a big day towards the end of your battle. It’s 10:14AM CT and you are in surgery right now. You have proven you are strong and have a great attitude and will recover at lightening pace. I’m glad I could see your smile yesterday and look forward to seeing it again soon! You have your smile, your family and your life–and those are the most important things.
Stay strong, get through these next few weeks, ever moving onward!
Onward!
SDS
Surgery went well. It was 3 hours and 21 minutes long plus he was in recovery room over 3 hours. The break is quite a set-back. In 2-3 months we will know if it is healing properly and it will take up to a year to know if it is totally successful or not. Steve has been in extreme pain. It is taking longer than after the amputation for the pain to be controlled.
FINALLY A LITTLE GOOD NEWS!
Steve underwent 6 hours of surgery yesterday. He was very brave and wasn’t even scared before he went in to surgery. Right now he is trying to rest and deal with immense pain. He is using a pump that delivers shots of morphine every ten minutes, but frankly it doesn’t seem like it’s working. Despite all of the pain, Steve is in a very cheerful mood and very happy with the outcome.
The surgeon (Dr. Cheng) removed his femur (thigh bone) almost up to his hips. Then he used his tibia (shin bone) and attached to the little bit of femur with a metal plate. They completely removed the tumor, along with the rest of his leg, which means technically that Steve is rid of cancer! His remaining leg is about a foot long, which should be great for using a prosthetic.
We are all very happy with his small remaining leg because only a few days before, the team of surgeons from MN and WI said they would have to remove his leg all the way up to his hip bone, leaving NO chance of using a prosthetic leg (as the previous update says). He also was experiencing his first ‘phantom’ leg pain yesterday, meaning he could feel his foot even though it wasn’t there. Surprisingly he said he enjoys the feeling!
We are SO proud of Steve!
We are also very thankful that Steve’s family is here, not to mention many others who came to support us.
After careful consideration, a team of doctors have decided the best option for surgery is to totally remove Steve’s left leg all the way up to the hip (called disarticulation). We were told that Steve may possibly be able to have a prosthesis for cosmetic purposes but not functional–so he will walk with crutches. This is hard news to take but the emphasis is on SAVING HIS LIFE. His courageous attitude through this whole ordeal has been unbelievable–all those months in traction and spica casts.
On another note, they have removed the spica cast, so his back spasms are getting better. He is doing occupational and physical therapy to build up for surgery and also having respiratory therapy treatments.
Surgery is scheduled for Friday, August 5.
This whole last month Steve has had up and down days with fevers, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, difficulty breathing, electrolyte imbalances, infections, cramping, and pains. Once your body has these “poison” chemotherapy drugs–it seems that you are prone to catching everything since you have a suppressed immune system. We are awaiting the official word regarding Steve’s surgery which is scheduled for August 5th. At present he is unbearably uncomfortable with his second spica cast.
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