First entry

MEDICAL UPDATE

My previous update was approximately two years ago when I was declared cancer-free and my treatments were complete. Since that time I’ve been following standard protocol of quarterly visits to the oncologists with six-month PET scans. My last PET scan was Nov. 27, which was still clean. A visit to oncologist on Feb. 12 proved normal. This past Monday, May 19, a visit to my oncologist indicated there were two masses, one in my pelvis and one in my armpit. A PET scan was scheduled for Wednesday, May 21 but Tuesday night I started feeling some numbness in the chest and lower extremities. By the time I had an appointment with my surgeon on Thursday, May 22, the numbness had spread rapidly and walking was becoming difficult.

When I arrived at the surgeon’s office on Thursday, he decided it was appropriate to admit me immediately to Baptist Medical Center in Jacksonville, Fla. His quick action proved vital – another two days and my paralysis would have been permanent and irreversible. I’ve worked in health care my entire life, but I’ve never been as impressed with the dedication to patient care as I’ve experienced in the past couple days, from the ward clerks to the nursing staff to the dietary assistants – they’re not just interested in doing their job, their concern is healing the patient.

Once admitted, an MRI was scheduled (which took three hours to complete), a CT scan was scheduled and the emergency room physician confirmed his initial diagnoses that compression of my spinal column was taking place. This compression was what was causing my paralysis. Luckily, the best neurosurgeon in Jacksonville was available that evening, and just several hours later I was having an emergency thoracic laminectomy in an attempt to decompress the spinal cord.

During this procedure, approximately 8 inches of spinal cord was exposed, and five tumors were removed from between the vertebrae. I was back in recovery by 11 p.m. on Thursday evening and was back in the ICU. I was in the ICU for monitoring, not for anything else. Friday morning, May 23, I could feel my legs again. I could move both legs. The left leg is lagging the right in improvement, but my neurosurgeon and his associate both expressed confidence that I will experience a 90 percent to 100 percent recovery from the paralysis.

After two days in the ICU, I have been moved to a standard patient floor where I will be continuing my recovery. This will be a three-stage recovery: The first stage will be to learn to walk again, and that may take a bit of time; stage 2 will be radiation treatment of the spine for two to three weeks in short, daily installments to treat tumor that may be in the spine, and the third stage will be to address the melanoma itself. At this point it is not known what course of action will be taken for that but all avenues will be explored.

Thursday was a pretty tough day, but as each day progresses my spirits are getting better and better and improvement is incremental in the right direction.

I have seen probably 20 doctors in the past three days. I certainly expected to see the doctors currently involved in my care here at the hospital, but all of my doctors have been either visiting or calling to inquire after my well-being and to lend their support and best wishes, and I’m grateful for that.

FRIENDS AND FAMILY

I want to express my gratefulness for the outpouring of love and affection that has already been coming my way. I’ve always known that I had a great group of friends, but I’ve been truly humbled by the reaction to my situation. I haven’t specifically mentioned co-workers because I’m including them as my friends. This blog will be my primary way of keeping in touch with people and keeping them up to date with what’s going on. Two of my dear friends in Baltimore are coordinating this for me and setting it up in such a way that you’ll have the opportunity to subscribe to the blog and simply receive updates by e-mail as they’re posted. You can also visit the blog at any time to review the entire history of postings.

You’re welcome to call my cell at any time; if I’m not in a position to answer calls, I’ll have my phone set to silent and a message will be taken, so please do not hesitate to contact me. Don’t feel you need to call if you’re not comfortable. Any comments you post to the blog will be e-mailed to me. If you prefer to e-mail me directly, you may do that, too. It’s my goal to recover from this as completely as possible and to get back to living a normal life. I would particularly like to express my appreciation for the strength, love and support that my partner, Rick, has been showing. He’s been strong for both of us and is my rock.