Update: Saturday, August 2, 2014 Title: Very Busy, But Very Good Medical Week Matthew had a chemo treatment and a spinal tap yesterday in Knoxville. His blood counts rebounded from the lows of last month and are now above the desired range. Dr. Corns is now gradually increasing the dosage of his chemo meds, and Matt will be required to get another blood test in a couple of weeks to determine dosage levels again. We are very thankful for these good results. On Thursday, Matt had an appointment with an endocrinologist to determine if the cranial radiation performed in 2011 caused any damage to his pituitary gland. Praise God that all of his test results were normal! We are very thankful for these good results. On Tuesday last week, we traveled to Nashville to see Dr. Ginger Holt, an orthopedic surgeon at Vanderbilt Hospital who specializes in patients with lymphoma and leukemia. Dr. Holt confirmed much of the information we have learned over the last month about avascular necrosis…AVN. She told Matthew that he is now in a “vulnerable” period of time where the head of his left femur has flattened but before it has collapsed. She is recommending surgery for his left hip, but is not recommending surgery for his right hip at this time. Although AVN has affected his pelvic bones as well, Dr. Holt was not concerned with the loss of strength in the pelvic bones, and told us that over time, the bone could potentially slowly heal itself. While asking questions, Matt kiddingly asked Dr. Holt if she could make him taller, and she said….actually, yes….but it would not work out well for him doing surgery on only one hip! We asked her to tell us about the actual hip replacement surgery, and she told us it would last about 2-3 hours, and Matthew would be in the hospital for 2-3 days. She would use a poly/ceramic hip in Matthew’s case. His physical therapy/rehab would last 6-8 weeks, and would be conducted in Knoxville. The timing of this surgery is the largest unknown (and concern) at this time. Both Dr. Holt and Dr. Corns would prefer Matthew to be off his chemo treatment which is scheduled to end in November. Dr. Holt basically told Matthew that the timing of his surgery will be determined by him…. when he cannot stand the pain anymore. Matt is not currently taking any pain medication, and he is not in constant pain. He does however, have about 10 episodes per day where he experiences a sharp pain, usually when placing all of his weight on his left leg….like when he is getting dressed in the morning. At the moment we are considering a December 2014 or May 2015 surgery, or whenever Matt’s hip becomes unbearable. The only minor issue Matthew had with Dr. Holt was that she was born and raised in Alabama, attended the University of Alabama, and her father played football at Alabama! Matthew of course, wore his Auburn shirt to the doctor’s appointment, and Dr. Holt told him she wouldn’t hold that against him! We are actually, very thankful for the excellent conference we had with her! So during this “vulnerable” time period, Matthew will continue his stretching exercises to minimize any loss of range in motion in his muscles, he will continue non-weight bearing cardio exercises in the pool, and will minimize walking and standing. Other than the medical news this month, we vacationed once again in Door County, Wisconsin. This was our 49th year at the same location, meeting up with the same close friends. There are now about 60 of us each year, and we had 18 from our family. My mom and dad are the patriarchs of the group, and our family had 4 generations represented. We were happy that Skyler joined us this year, but we missed Zach who had to work….and also missed Chris, Quinton, and Monica. While in Wisconsin, Matthew was able to golf twice….(I was not really happy about this, but he did have a great time). We arrived home last Sunday and Skyler was able to stay in Knoxville all this week and join Matthew at each of his doctor’s appointments. Zach arrived home last night, and Nathan, a friend of Matthew’s from school drove up this morning. We all went boating today, and Zach humored us in more ways than one! Love having that boy home!! Unfortunately, Zach, Skyler and Nathan will leave tomorrow and return to Auburn, and Matthew will stay in Knoxville and work another 10 days, before he returns to Auburn for the fall semester of his junior year. Thank you all who are in constant prayer for Matthew. We are more hopeful each day and are reminded what a unique and special son Matthew is…in our eyes, and in God’s eyes. He is strong and confident, and most importantly loves his Lord and Savior despite his earthly challenges. Jesus is who we lean on when we slide into a valley, and He is always there to pull us up. We also gain comfort from your calls, posts and notes. I would just ask that you would continue to pray that Matthew will have a normal pain-free fall semester, and that God would reveal to us the best timing for his surgery.
Posted on: Sun, 03 Aug 2014 01:44:59 +0000
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