Frank had surgery almost a year ago to remove a cancerous tumor from his colon and to resection the colon. The surgery appeared good to the doctor and later the biopsies indicate there were no cancer lurking near by.
His first surgery happened almost one year ago on Friday, April 23, 2010. the following Monday Frank's muscles in the esophagus tore from retching. The odds were 3% that he would survive the
emergency surgery to repair the tear; then 4 days in the Critical Care Unit. His medical team and the care he received in Salem Hospital were excellent. Frank did survive and spent almost 47 days in a skilled nursing facility for rehabilitation. The hard part of his next 6 weeks was with the esophageal damage. We really didn't give the cancer any of our concern or our thoughts. There were more critical things to address: how to learn to swallow; what will work and what won't. The final step was to learn to eat and swallow again.. Time and patience were brief and difficult to achieve. Two dilation were performed which gradually opened the passage way first, to the size of a "#2 wooden pencil" and then to the size of a dime. As I understand the average adult passage way is the size of a quarter. Things improved after the second dilation and all the events were stored away in memories. Our life gradually got back to normal and the calendar was cleared of multiple doctor appointments. We enjoyed gardening again. Our children had worked together planting the usually summer annuals and providing colorful and enjoyable hanging baskets for us to view. We threw all of our energy in to adding the plants for our Fall and enjoyed it all.
On our calendar was an appointment with his surgeon December 2, 2011 for a follow-up visit and lab tests. A few of the lab tests were elevated which is not unusual that soon after colon surgery. Appointments were made to have the lab tests repeated first week in April followed in a few days by the year follow-up appointment. The same tests were still elevated and appointments were scheduled for a colonoscopy, another Cat Scan, and a follow-up visit with the surgeon. Those memories that were stored began to surface and all tried to shout at once.
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