husband and family update

Some of you have received this in email form but I decided to post it here so that everyone will have the information and know what to pray for (please pray).

Tom has had pain in his foot for awhile and we have had the doctor look at it but it 'seemed' sprained. Well, we went again to the doctor (different doctor) since it never seems to heal - and they did an x-ray. Interesting fluke is that they took the x-ray at an odd angle that they don't normally do - and thank God they did that as it is the only angle that gave a glimpse of the problem. So they recommended an MRI -- and after that we were told he has a bone tumor or a cyst. (Scary)

So we got sent to the foot specialist (surgeon). We saw him on Tuesday. He is 95% sure that it is a cyst. And that is REALLY good news!! At least we are not (most likely) dealing with cancer. He can't be 100% sure until it is tested but he is an expert and I am resting comfortably with his 95% outlook.

BUT he said this is the biggest cyst he has EVER seen. The problem is that it has eaten away all the bone marrow and instead it is all cyst. It is about the size of a fist in his heal - it is huge --- and the doctor said HUGE about 20 times while we were there - they couldn't believe it hadn't broken the bone yet - which is a good thing. Because there is a concern it could happen at any time the doctor bumped someone else from the surgery schedule and put my husband in. He is having surgery on Monday. While we are thankful this is a cyst - bone cysts are still a big deal. The doctor told him that this is one of the most painful surgeries. Extremely painful.

For those of you interested in medical stuff and not squeamish - here are a few more details -

They have to go in and cut a kind of hinged door where they peel back the bone. Then the doctor goes in to remove the cyst - and then he will scrape out the inside and scrape the bone fully so no cyst remains. (This is the painful part). Now there will be a hollow bone. So he will use bone from cadavers and other putty --- the cadaver bone is fully sterilized (and I am not sure of how they do this but the technology is amazing.) so that when it is used there is no issue with rejection or getting a disease from the material used. Then he closes up the bone and staples it shut. The body still recognizes that the cadaver bone is bone material and it will help it to regenerate new bone material. Plus something is needed to fill the space until his own bone can grow. As his own bone grows back (the body is amazing and this is kind of like the healing that goes on after a bone breaks) the material stuffed in there will be reabsorbed by the body.

Tom will not be able to put weight of any kind on his foot for a LONG time --- in the first two weeks any pressure will pop the stitches. He will not be walking for most likely 6 months. He will be out on short term disability from work for most likely at least a month. He is very upset about this forced immobility. I am just so happy it is a cyst and not something so much worse. This might be painful but it is fixable.

There is always a concern for my husband to have surgery as he reacts to many meds. He is allergic to penicillin and reacts negatively to many pain meds. I have to say this is the first time I have had a doctor WARN us over and over how the first 3 days will suck and how painful this surgery is. He was even told to error on the side of too much pain meds rather than less. (Doctors NEVER say that!!)

So Tom is worried about this all. He won't be able to do much moving and will need his family to get things for him.

After Tom's surgery - we have his post op apt on Tuesday of the following week in the AM and that afternoon my middle child has to go in to a children's dermatologist / surgeon as he has a mole that is changing. He most likely will be having surgery in May sometime to have that removed.

My oldest is getting confirmed the first weekend in May - and I was asked if there is a party for him - and sadly nope - we are just having the grandparents over after - and hoping they bring dinner with them!!

So if you made it this far - thank you. Please pray for the doctor and his staff. Pray for successful surgery and healing for Tom. Pray for my sanity. My husband doesn't handle pain or being cooped up well.