another weekend gone by

goodness...time is going by so fast here lately! bryan has been out of town every other week the past 4 weeks and he heads out tomorrow again. :( inbetween all his travel we have managed to go down to see my dad last weekend and this weekend i went down all by myself. i havent traveled by myself in many years...it was strange. not only that, i have spent very few nights away from brax.
i went down thrusday after school to spend some time with dad. i got to the rehab facility around noon on friday. i walked in right behind him coming back from physical therapy. he was braced up and in his wheelchair. as he started taking the front part of the brace off, he noticed that his incision was leaking. leaking would give you thought of a little bit...it was more of a gush. thankfully his nurse got him over into wound care fairly quickly and was seen by a dr. as for right now, we are just changing the dressings every 2-3 hours in hopes that the drainage will stop. he goes over to see the surgical team on monday for a followup.
the rehab facility has an onsite wound care center and he will go back over there on tuesday and then again on thursday. they are seeing him for the drainage at the incision sight as well as the bed sores on his heels. everything seems to progressing along the recovery path...at times it takes a detour, but slowly he is getting there.
since bryan flies out in the morning, my week will be hectic yet again. i cant wait for everything to get back to normal! good news is that spring break is only 2 weeks away! a much needed break. we will head back to san antonio on the 13th in order to spend dads birthday with him. we are hoping that he will be able to go home by then. :)
so...there is an update...i am exhausted! i left san antonio saturday night at 10 and drove back to lubbock. i got in this morning at 4. i only had 2 stops. the first one outside of san angelo because a dps thought i needed to slow down. he was super nice and just gave me a warning...i was so glad he was so nice and only clocked me at 72 instead the 85 i was going! my next stop was in big spring to fill up my poor baby hummer. my poor baby was subjected to abuse over the weekend. it is coming up on 4 years old with only 24000 miles and it sleeps in the garage every night! i am sure it is in shock and is enjoying being back home. a 1000 miles in a weekend is way too much for it!

Monday...day 12

We had to leave yesterday and make our way back to Lubbock. I really wanted to stay with dad, but I think he is doing okay and I will be back down there this weekend.

Before we left yesterday one of his drs came in and let him sit up in his bed. He was so excited to get to move! I talked with him today and they were planning to get him up walking today...another very exciting step he was more than ready to make. I don't think that he officially got to walk but he was moved into a wheelchair and was able to get out of the room for awhile.

Last night, while getting up to go potty he pulled out one of his drains. This morning when the dr came in they took out the 2nd one and had hopes of removing the 3rd one today. Another step in getting him mobile. With the great steps he has taken over the past few days the drs are hopeful he will be moving to the rehab facility soon.

I was glad that we were there to spend time with him. I saw him actually smile and there was even a laugh! He had gotten Braxtyn a singing monkey for Valentine's Day and when she opened and pushed the button..her face was full of surprise! I am so glad that he was able to smile...it has been a long time since I seen that.

I was very happy before we left yesterday that we were able to get him an air bed to help with his bed sores that were beginning to form. I spoke with him today and he seemed to be in good spirits. I can't wait to get back down there!

here we go again...

I finally got to san antonio to see my dad on friday morning just in time to see things fall apart before my very eyes. physical therapy had been in once that morning to get him up and walking and during the second try...they really f@#% ed him up! his brace is a very large contraption and requires a lot of effort to get it on correctly. the two girls that came in had not been in to help him before and it was quite obvious. during previous pt times two men came in and helped him get up and then get the brace on...these girls had another plan.

while one of them helped him roll to his left side, the other held his right leg. between the two of them they were successful in pulling his new hip out of socket. i stayed in the room since i hadnt been here and i wanted to know what was involved so i witnessed the whole thing. it so wasnt anything that anyone should have to see their dad go thru...i cant imagine the immense pain he was in.

while we were waiting for them to come get him for surgery, one of the drs came to talk to us. i know that carrie, my sister, had been living through this for weeks now and took everything in. i on the otherhand, live 5 hours away and i have the distance to help me..but on thursday everything began to hit home for me. once talking to the dr everything came into perspective. my dad had chondrosarcoma, cartlidge cancer in his right hip joint. upon getting into the surgery going after the initial tumor, they tested his blood marrow and saw that there was still cancerous cells there. they then had to cut away all his butt muscles to get to the back of his pelvis for the other tumor. so...the hip popping out made sense.

basically, his whole right side had been cut through and only staples and sutures were holding him together. his pelvis was removed on the right side and cadaver bone replaced it, a steel ball atop a steel rod replaced filled in the new socket. it is such a hard concept to grasp for me still. with all of this work done...he is so lucky to be at this point. given the severity of the cancer and placement he is so lucky to be able to still have his leg. the dr told us most doctors would have done the replacement surgery, they would have only taken his leg off.

so...at 5:30 last night they took him back down to the or to put his hip back in place. with any luck they would be able to pop it back it without having to open him up. well, after over an hour in the OR we were thinking that an easy fix wasnt an option. a little over 2 hours after going in, dr williams came out. they were able to pop his hip back in quite easily and decided due to the swelling to open it back up. they were able to take almost a liter of fluid away from the incision sight.

so overall, he went through a lot of pain and had to go back into surgery but hopefully that will all get everything on the right track. with removing the fluid, they are hoping that everything will go back together in less time. another drawback is that after surgery last night he will remain in his brace at all times. talk about uncomfortable...a hard plastic brace to lay on...yay! he is starting to develop bed sores on the heels of his feet. they brought a special little boot to help keep him from applying pressure to it.

on a very good note, friday night was the best night he had in a long time. somehow we got him comfortable physically and mentally. he is on the road to recovering after traveling through hell on friday and we are hoping for the best. :) the drs think he might be able to leave the hospital and go to the rehab facility by wednesday.

i cant imagine the pain he has gone through physically as well as mentally...i am so glad he is going to a rehab that can help him with both.

i have been up here with him all day and he is starting to drift off for the night. we are waiting for his next round of pain meds and then hopefully he will be out for a good while sleeping peacefully.

Total Hip Replacement

His surgery was a very long process today...8:30-5:30...9 whole hours. The drs removed his whole right hip and pelvis along with 2 cancerous tumors, one of which they didn't even know about. He lost over 2 liters of blood and has gone through one transfusion today and he is still in the recovery room until his blood pressure comes up.
mom and carrie got to go back and see him around 8:30 this evening. carrie reported that he was doing okay, very swollen and still very out-of-it. mom on the otherhand, ended up laying in the hallway trying not to pass out. she just cant take the smell of ether :(

i think through all his surgeries, the times after the surgery are always the most memorable.
after his lower back fusion last christmas, he told me that his drs name was Dr. Zantac :)
today this was the conversation between my sister and him...pretty funny :)

dad...i hear they tape your eyes shut during surgery
carrie...yes, they do
dad...are my eyes still taped?
carrie...well, can you see me?
dad...yea, and i dont even need my glasses

I will be leaving after school next Thursday to go see him once he gets home and if any of you know me at all...i will totally give a hard time about that conversation. :)

i am very much a daddy's girl and i have truely appreciated everyones concern and prayers!

Surgery Scheduled

My dad had his follow-up today and good news was heard! The cat scan showed no other cancer within his body...it is only in his hip. When I called around 6, they were still in San Antonio. He was getting "fitted" for a cast. As we speak, there is a place in New Jersey getting a hip in route to Texas for him. He will undergo a right hip replacement on February 11th. The dr said he will be in surgery for about 6-7 hours and then will stay in the hospital for about 5 days. I am sure he is super excited to come home in a body cast. :) I am just relieved that there is a solution within his reach and he will soon have no more pain.
I talked to him after they left the drs office and he said he would rather we come down once he gets home. I have been there to see him off to surgery for every major one he has had...this will be the first pre-op visit I will miss. That worries me some, but I do have to admit that I would rather be at home with him than in a hospital with Braxtyn. I bet he would like to remember us being there too. Plus Bryan will be in Memphis the week of his surgery, so it would be better on us all to have Bryan there too.
Overall...I can breathe a sigh of relief for now and hopefully before too long Dad can too! :)