Home & Resting - 8/10/2012

I got home today at @11:30ish.  I believe I was held a day longer in ICU and 8th floor due to the issue I had with my hip on surgery day but I was able to get a good night sleep last night so that was good.  For those who may not have heard, the day before I had surgery I had to have an MRI and they gave me a different med than usual and when I went in the car, I put the seat back alittle bit and slept while Kurt and Ashley did some errands.  When I got home, I left the seat back and came in the house and went to sleep.  Well, when I went in the car the morning of surgery, I got in, sat up a bit to move the back of the chair up and felt a 'crack' in my right hip and then EXTREME pain.  Kurt was putting out the garbage and when he got in the car, I told him I thought I broke my hip.  Well, we ended up going to the hospital but letting the nurses know right away what was going on.  Those that know me (which seems like quite a few of the nurses and other staff), knew that I don't normally complain of my pain and I was in some pretty good pain.  When I went downstairs into the IV area, they did a couple of x-rays and the orthopedic doctor reviewed them.  It appears that I pulled the muscle from my femur and I will just have to take it easy and let it heal on its own.  I asked if they could forward the xrays to the doctor that performed my surgery at Mayo Clinic so I will plan to contact him for his opinion.

The surgery appeared to go very well.  From what I understand, in the three weeks the tumor went from the size of a pea to the size of a cherry; there was also another small tumor that was not there previously. There were 4 doctors involved in the surgery... my neurosurgeon from Marquette performed the surgery; two doctors from Canada were there (and apparently as I was coming to, the one that my neurosurgeon trained under came in and asked me if I thought he was ugly - which I don't recall how he really looked but I don't believe he was ugly; the other two I don't really recall but I believe one was another that is trained and from California.  They were able to get 100% of the tumor - Kurt said removal of the actual tumor took them all of 3 minutes. 

I had a CAT scan the night of surgery (wasn't too pleasant moving due to hip issues so I took pain meds when I returned to my room).  I had an MRI the following morning and moved to the 8th floor later that evening.  I think I could  have went home that day had I not had the issues with my hip.  Today I was discharged by 11 a.m. having no real issues.

I will be meeting with the radiation oncologist next Friday afternoon to plan my one-time treatment.  They will be doing radiation on the area of the surgery site of tumor as well as another tumor that is now showing. After that, I will then see the neurosurgeon again as well as the oncologist to figure out my next round of meds.  (I have to wonder if that is why my tumors have grown a bit since I haven't been on any treatment since May?!?!)

I am a little tired but otherwise feeling good.  I was told today that I should be off work ... we will see when I can return.  I am almost certain that the hip issue has put a different twist on the timeframe they originally gave me.  Plus, having had surgery, they increased my meds; I am decreasing daily but it will still take a couple of weeks to get back to where I was before surgery - and these meds can make you alittle off.

I will update as I know more of what is going on in the next few weeks...   Thank you for your thoughts, prayers and believing!