Saturday, August 2, 2014: As updated Thursday, Patrick has made it through his last infusion of chemo ever. THAT is THE PLAN! But there are still many bumps along the road of treatment. Friday was set aside for surgery. We were told he’d be an early surgery due to being a diabetic. A normal OR schedule is youngest to oldest excepting other complications. So Patrick should be early. We were surprised to be notified of a 9:30 a.m. OR appointment and arrive by 7:30. Seemed like it didn’t correlate. Oh well. So Thursday evening we hopped in the car and went to view the Rocky steps at the Philadelphia Art Museum. It is across from “The Oval”, of which we were informed at Patrick’s heart echo on Thursday that there was music, activities, and food trucks. It sounded like a nice diversion, and it was. We discovered outdoor ping pong on cement slabs (pretty cool, actually), a 9-hole mini-putt (that was very challenging), listening to the sounds of an African drum corps (good percussion if you are into that). Yes, the boys went up the steps that Rocky Balboa made famous. On our way to the evening activities, we received a call from the surgery scheduler that we should arrive at 6:30 a.m. That was great news! Early! So Patrick, Debbie, and I arrived at 6:20…to find a line at surgery registration. Wow! Mind you, Debbie had been up late and twice in the night checking blood sugars to make sure it didn’t drop too low (it didn’t). So we were glad to get this over with. And so was Patrick. Bone marrow biopsy and bone marrow aspiration, spinal tap, and tissue biopsy all rolled into one surgery. We were triaged and placed into a pre-op room. Patrick was now in surgical gowns. And then we were asked to go to another room and wait; this bed was needed. Okay. So at 7:30 we are now in a family waiting room off the hallway. And waited. And waited. Finally, at 9:30, I went to find someone, anyone, that could tell us what was going on. Pretty much felt forgotten. Low and behold, come on back to re-prep. Now meet with the surgeon pre-op. Meet with anesthesia pre-op. Tick tock tick tock. At 10:45 Patrick was wheeled back into surgery. Procedure started at 11:05 and lasted a little over an hour. Debbie & I were ushered to a post-op room to review the procedure with the surgeon. It’s 12:35. He strolls in near 1pm and we talk for 15 or so minutes, then we were brought back to meet Patrick in recovery. At that time, we met with the Onc doc and Onc NP managing Patrick’s case. Patrick was awake enough and stable enough for us to leave at 2:45 p.m. and we arrived “home” by 3:15p.m. So glad we had an early surgery appointment. I’d really not like to find out what kind of day we’d have had with a later appointment! Very frustrating day. Patrick was not physically comfortable either from the tissue biopsy, so we have kept him on mild pain medicine the balance of the day and overnight. Call the day a low point after yesterday’s high. But, like Rocky, he rose to the challenge. We finally had a day to sleep in on Saturday and de-stress a bit. We have been filling the days with sights and sounds of our new, albeit temporary, home. I made it with Alex & Joey from our residence to Geno’s to try yet another of Philly’s famous cheese steaks – all without using a map! And I’ve kinda figured out parking in Philly. Well, as long as it is closer to mid-town anyway. You would not believe the parking on the south side of town. (Apparently, that is what the left hand turn lane is for…parking). The five of us took in an AS Roma v Inter Milan soccer match today at Lincoln Field for some relaxing entertainment. And Patrick is feeling better today, too. We are enjoying the next few calm days before the storm hits with Tcell infusion. We had a sobering conversation yesterday with Dr. Maude about the potential complications of T-cell therapy and what to expect the next several weeks. Scary stuff. Our oncologist called Friday evening to say the spinal fluid was free of leukemia. His preliminary bone marrow (aspiration) was clear but they are sending it for minimal residual disease. The testicular pathology report wont be available until next week but wont affect the T-cell start date on August 5. Thank you for the prayers and for checking in on Patrick.
Posted on: Sat, 02 Aug 2014 21:33:29 +0000
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