Chemo-Cycle 4, Day 2

Michael didn’t finish his first treatment up until 5:00 this morning. They started his hydration at 3:00 pm yesterday, but did not actually begin the chemo meds until 8:00pm. He didn’t really have any side effects from Day 1.

They did draw his blood this morning and his counts are going down. The doctors said this morning they will more than likely end this cycle early. Normally they don’t draw blood on day 3, but they will get his blood counts in the morning to see where his counts are at to see if we they will do day 3.

Since they didn’t actually start the chemo meds until 8:00 last night, they didn’t want to start them again until this evening. He started his hydration around 6:00 and the chemo meds around 8:00. If they give the meds to close together, it would make him sick. His fatigue is beginning to set in and he hasn’t had any nausea so far today. He still has a few hours to go tonight for his treatment. He more than likely will not be done until around 5 in the morning.

I will give an update tomorrow. Thanks for everyone keeping us in their prayers.

Beginning of Chemo-Cycle 4

We hope everyone had a nice and wonderful holiday. We did. It was a nice and quiet Christmas with the family. Of course we all ate too much.

One of my cousins in Colorado who is going through cancer treatment as well shared this with me and I wanted to share with everyone. Thanks for sharing Kathy Jo.

What Cancer Cannot Do
Cancer is so limited...
It cannot cripple Love
It cannot shatter Hope
It cannot corrode Faith
It cannot destroy Peace
It cannot kill Friendship
It cannot suppress Memories
It cannot silence Courage
It cannot invade the Soul
It cannot steal Eternal Life
It cannot conquer the Spirit
-- author unknown

We are back at the hospital today to begin “Chemo-Cycle 4”. They drew blood when we came in (like we do each time before we begin his treatment) and his neutrophils were done just a little bit. All his other counts looked good. We had to wait for the nurses to get the “OK” to begin his treatment. We did not get to start his hydration until 3:00 today. With this being his longest day, he will probably not get done until about 3 or 4 in the morning. I will try to give another update later or in the morning.

Please continue to keep Michael in your prayers.

Happy Holidays

We want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Hopefully Santa was good to everyone.

Michael’s Doctor’s Appointment

Michael had his follow up appointment with the oncologist on yesterday. While Michael was getting his lab work done, all the ladies in the lab started to sing “Happy Birthday” to him. He turned so red.

His white counts are up to 9.3K. This is good. Some of his other counts are down just a bit, but they doctors feel they will be up by the 29th when they want to admit him for his next treatment.

His headache has been getting better and he hasn’t really had much of a cough the last few days. One of his doctors called him “stuffy” and was joking with him telling him with his counts up, now is the time to get sick. Michael still has a bad sinus infection right now. She switched some of his medicines around to try to get rid of this infection. We are supposed to call in on Monday to let them know how he is doing. We just want to make sure he has no signs of infection by the 29th.

After the doctor’s office, we did a little Christmas shopping and then went to my parent’s house for dinner and to celebrate Michael’s birthday. The kids were already there. Rebbecca got a cake for him and he opened a few presents. He got to spend some time with his nieces and nephew. It wasn’t much, but he seemed to have a nice birthday.

Today, he doesn’t feel good at all. He is worn-out from all the running we did yesterday (doctors, a little shopping, visiting). He’s not running a fever, but he is coughing more today and his headache is back. He has been resting all day. Hopefully he will feel better tomorrow.

Please continue to say an extra prayer for Michael.

~Latest Update~

Michael is doing OK. He still doesn’t feel that great. He is still taking his medication, but still feels like isn’t right. We did get his cough and fever under control (this is a real good thing) but still getting some bad headaches. We go back to the doctor on Thursday so we will see what they say. You can see it in is face that he isn’t feeling well.

Kids will start their holiday break Friday afternoon. They get to be home for 2 whole weeks. We are going to stay home this year for Christmas. Then we get to have fun all over again and go back to the hospital for cycle 4 on December 29th. At least we have him home for Christmas.

I have had requests for our address. It is:
4838 Cheryl Lane
Kaufman, TX 75142

I will give you all another update after we visit the doctor again on Thursday. Hope everyone stays safe and warm.

First Week after Chemo Cycle 3

Michael was doing pretty good most of the week. His first few days home he was still fatigued. This time he has been trying harder to get up, do things and just move around.

I myself went to the doctor on Tuesday to get some medicine. I have a severe sinus infection. I just wanted to make sure I didn’t have anything I can pass on to Michael.

A few of his side effects when he does get home from Chemo is a headache and he does have a slight cough. Yesterday evening, he started with a different type of cough and headache and was running a slight fever. With this being the low point of Michael’s blood count, the doctor put in back on his antibiotics and cough medicine. With the weather finally getting colder down here, it is just a cold, but hopefully we can catch this before it turns into something bad. We will go back to the doctor next Thursday.

Later this weekend, I will update more on how he is feeling. Again, thanks for all the prayers and support. We couldn’t do this without you.

Chemo Cycle 3 – Days 3, 4, & 5

Wednesday – Day 3:
Michael started his hydration and pre-meds around 11:00 and started his chemo around 1:00, getting only two of the chemo meds and finishing up around 10:00pm. Luckily he had no nausea today, but his fatigue is increasing. I will say he does get spoiled by the nurses. The nurse manager actually brought him pizza today.

Thursday – Day 4:
His white blood count is currently at 6K. This is a lot better than the last time. His routine is getting pretty set by now. He starts his hydration and pre-med’s around 11:00 and then begins his chemo. This is the day he only gets one of the chemo meds. He finished his chemo and post-meds around 9:00. He is extremely tired.

Friday – Day 5: WE GET TO GO HOME!!
We talked with the oncologist this morning. His blood counts are looking ok. They are where they should be at this point. He did get his shot of Neulasta (to help stimulate growth of the white blood cells). By afternoon, we were able to take him home. He’s been resting most of the day and will through most of the weekend.

If all goes ok through the next few weeks, this will be the cycle that we will go 4 weeks instead of 3 due to the Christmas holiday. This will allow Michael to be home for Christmas and hopefully at a good point in his blood counts.

Chemo Cycle 3 – Days 1 & 2

Monday - Day 1:
We checked Michael back into the Hospital on Monday. He walked in picking on the nurses again. They did his lab work and his white counts looked real good. His count is higher going in this time than the last cycle so the doctor feels good about this treatment. Around 11:00 am they started him on his pre-hydration and pre-meds. He did receive all 3 of his chemotherapy meds. He finished up around 11:00 pm. He had a good day on Monday, no nausea or any other side effects.

Tuesday - Day 2:
Tuesday morning he felt alright. He didn’t get much sleep. His blood counts still look good. Again, they started his pre-hydration and pre-meds around 11:00. Around dinner time fatigue started to set in and he did have some nausea. He finished up his treatment around 11:00 again. Again, he didn’t get much sleep.

Special Thanks at Thanksgiving

During this holiday season, we are truly blessed with SO many thoughtful people in our lives. Words can not begin to express our gratitude, but Michael and I want to begin with a special “THANK YOU” to all our friends, family, co-workers, and those we don’t know personally. Many of you have helped us in so many different ways over the last few months where a “thank you” isn’t enough. Please know you will always have a special place in our hearts.

Please continue to keep Michael, the kids, and I in your thoughts and prayers. We still have an extremely long road ahead. But with faith, love and laughter, we know will make it through this.

Please feel free to email us. He might not ever tell you, but he loves to hear from you. We hope everyone has a safe and wonderful Thanksgiving.

Back to see the Doctor – Next Treatment Scheduled

Monday we went back for his blood work and to visit with the doctor on his next treatment date. His counts actually are looking real good. His white blood count was 12.3K, much higher than his counts have been through all his tests. The doctors decided to have him come back on Monday December 1st to begin “Chemo Cycle 3”. This will be at 3 weeks again and allow the doctors to see what his counts are again on the 3rd day. If they begin to get low again, they will stop the treatment. With the holidays coming, the doctor has already scheduled “Chemo Cycle 4” to be 4 weeks out.

Week after Chemo

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday Michael was extremely exhausted and didn’t really do anything. By Monday he started to try to get around. He is only able to do very little at a time or he gets real tired. We are still very concerned with his white blood counts.

By Friday morning, he started with the pain in his hips, ribs, and back. He did call the doctor. They do feel that this is a symptom from the Neulasta shot. Generally this side effect will be 3 – 4 days after the shot, but the doctor thinks since he stays in bed for the first few days when we get home that it will occur with Michael between the 7th and 8th day. These only lasted for a few days. By Sunday, he was feeling pretty good.

New Website

I have been working on a new website by Caringbridge.org. Please stop by and check it out. For now, I will update both sites with updates on Michael until I decide which one to use. Please let us know what you think.
http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/hopesformichael

Chemotherapy Cycle 2

Michael went back into the hospital on November 10th for his second chemotherapy cycle. His cycle is suppose to consist of day 1, all three chemotherapy meds; days 2 & 3, only 2 chemotherapy meds; and day 4 only 1 of the chemotherapy meds.

Monday-Day 1:
Michael was his good ole’ self with the nurses, joking with them. He had his labs drawn. We met with the oncologist. Around 11:30am, they started him on his pre-meds. Around 2:00pm they started his chemotherapy meds. He received all three chemotherapy meds today. He finally finished up around 10:00 pm. He actually had a pretty good day, no nausea, or any of the other major side effects.

Tuesday-Day 2:
Michael was still feeling pretty good. He was still joking with nurses. Michael received his pre-meds and started his chemo. He only received the two chemo meds again today. He finally finished up around 9:00 pm. No nausea, but the fatigue did begin to set in some in the evening.

Wednesday-Day 3:
Today was pretty much the same as days before. Michael received his pre-meds and started his chemo again mid-afternoon, getting only two of the chemo meds finishing up around 8:00 pm. Still no real nausea, but his fatigue is increasing.

Thursday-Day 4:
Things looked good for Michael until this morning. His blood work on Monday and Tuesday looked good, but when they did his blood work this morning, his white blood count was already down to 1.9K (his normal is 7K and the normal range is 5K -10K). At 1.5K he would be neutropenic (risk of infection) and at 1K they would have to isolate him. Being at 1.9K is way to low at this point in this cycle.

They stopped his chemo treatment, went ahead and gave him his shot of Neulasta (to help stimulate growth of the white blood cells) and sent us home. We have to start him on an antibiotic on Monday for 7 days. They said hopefully (in his own environment) his counts won't drop too much; however at 10 - 14 days of the cycle is when they will the lowest. The last cycle his low point was 1.5K at 14 days.

The doctor said that he probably isn’t capable of taking the treatment at this rate. The oncologist is now going to change his cycles to be every 4 weeks instead of every 3. He also is discussing the possibility of changing his dosage on his next treatment. Not sure if he is going to decrease and of the dosage, change any of the meds, or change the duration of the dosages. We will know more next time we go in for his follow up. Even though we have him home, we do have to keep him monitored through the weekend. Once I got him home, you can see the fatigue that has set in again. He is extremely tired.

Senior Night / Parent’s Night

Last night turned out very nice. They had the senior presentation before the game started. They honored all the seniors in football, band, cheerleading and drill team. I escorted our son Michael, and Michael escorted our daughter Rebbecca. We all had a great time.

During the 4th quarter, all the senior band members played together on the track. They sounded great and had fun.

Of course the football team won the game and are once again district 12-3A champions. Now the play-offs start. We will just have to see how far they make it this year. The band will continue to perform at the games through play-offs.

Oncologist Appointment / Next Chemo Cycle Date Set

We went to his oncology appointment today. His blood counts are back up and they look good. He told the doctor he is feeling pretty good right now. He is making sure that he doesn’t “over do” anything. Michael’s 3-weeks to put him back in the hospital for his 2nd chemotherapy cycle would be this coming Thursday. But Michael asked the doctor if we could change but just a few days.

This Friday is the kids’ last football game / parent’s night / senior night. This is the last home game where the school will honor all the seniors that are in football, cheerleading, drill team, volleyball, band, and color guard. Their parents get to escort them on to the field for the presentation. Michael could not miss the chance to be there. So with us having 2 seniors, he will escort Rebbecca and I will escort Michael. Hopefully we get some good pictures out of it. Plus I know the kids are excited that he will be able to go and be part of this.

We had already decided that if we couldn’t change his treatment, we were going to sneak him out of the hospital and to the game. But the doctor understood and decided that he will go in on Monday November 10th for his 2nd chemotherapy cycle. This will work out better. If we stayed on “going in on a Thursday” it would have put him going in on Thanksgiving for his 3rd cycle. So I get to have him home and feeling pretty good to eat a big Turkey dinner.

The doctor did say that he and the radiation oncologist did discuss in detail Michael’s treatment plan and decided we would stay on the plan we are on for now (6 chemotherapy cycles, radiation, then possibly another 6 chemotherapy cycles).

Thanks to those that have sent well wishes, thoughts, and prayers. We really appreciate all of them. Please keep them coming. I know he would love to hear from any of ya. Call him, email him, or chat with him when you get a chance. Even if you are in the area, stop by... I am sure he would love to see someone other than me.

Hair Loss

We were told that he would begin to lose his hair about 10 – 14 days after his chemotherapy treatment. They did say that he would lose hair in various places. Wednesday some of his hair began to fall out. He noticed it falling out of his beard / mustache as well. He has always had a military cut, but by Saturday evening, his hair had “thinned” out pretty good so we trimmed it down shorter than normal. He decided not to shave it all off until we had too.

It is still a big shock for him to lose his hair even though he always wore it so short.

Back in the Hospital

We went to his appointment on Monday, had his blood drawn and asked the doctor about a few “side effects” to see what we needed to do and if they were “normal”. The doctor put him on an antibiotic for the “red bumps” on his face and neck area, and gave him what they call “magic mouthwash” which he will take before he eats to help with the tenderness in his mouth. He did talk to the doctor about some hip pain, but all thought it was “normal”. His counts are low, which this is the time they are suppose to be, so he needs to be extremely careful with any exposure to germs, illnesses, etc.

As we were heading home, his back and hips were hurting a bit more. By Monday evening, the pain was to the point of him taking some of his “pain medicine”. I gave him second does later in the evening and it still did not ease the pain. By this point, the pain was the exact same pain he was experiencing before the surgery to remove the tumor. We both began to get scared thinking the tumor might already be coming back. He called the oncologist late that evening (I am sure we woke him up). He told me to take Michael to the ER and he would call in some tests and meet us there.

We checked into the ER, and they finally ran a CT scan about 3:00 in the morning. The ER doctor did say the CT scan was clean and that Michael’s oncologist was on his way in to admit Michael for further testing. His doctor showed up, talked to us for a bit and admitted him back into the Jackson building. He did get to see Michael in pain and how the pain affected him. The oncologist ordered a MRI on him and said he was going to contact Michael’s neurosurgeon and have him look into this as well.

Michael went down for the MRI early Tuesday morning. The MRI did show that his nerves where they removed the tumor was swollen and inflamed causing the pain. We spoke with his neurosurgeon and he suggested putting Michael on a “nerve” medicine to help keep the nerves calm. He did say that what might have caused this is from going from doing nothing (the first few days he came home from his Chemo treatments) to somewhat overdoing it (going and spending the evening at the kids’ competition). With the medicine and certain exercises he must do everyday, he should not experience this again.

Michael’s oncologist wanted us to speak with a radiation oncologist to discuss a possible change in the treatment plan. We met with him today, discussed what Michael was experiencing. He will still need to discuss everything with the oncologist first, but it sounded like he would like to get a few more chemo treatments in, redo the tests we did yesterday and see if we wanted to do the radiation before normally planned (which would be after the 6th chemo treatment).

Finally at 6:00 this evening, they discharged him from the hospital and we were able to finally come home. He actually feels pretty good as we are able to keep the nerve pain under control and not having him too medicated.

He is still scheduled to go back to the oncologist on his normal Monday appointments. That will be the day we will discuss his next treatment time and if they will decide to change any of the plan.

His First Week Home after Treatment

Sorry for not updating sooner, but his first week home has been very tiring for all of us. The first few days, he was extremely tired and did have some nausea. He really didn’t start eating until Wednesday evening and then it wasn’t much. His head is tender to the touch and the inside of his mouth is becoming more sensitive. His senses (smell, taste, etc) have changed. He is having some other side effects, but I think they might be manageable for him.

The first few days home, he really didn’t want to talk to anyone or have anything to do with the babies (our 2 Dachshunds DeeDee and Squiggy). Thursday evening, he actually talked to some people on the phone and laughed for a long time. I have decided that a few days after he gets home, I will have some call him to make him laugh. They always say laughter is the best medicine and after being on the phone for a few hours laughing, he actually started to feel a little better. I would say that they first few days home were pretty miserable for him. But by Thursday, he started to pick back up. He just has to take things in moderation now.

Both Rebbecca and Michael are in marching band again this year and went to their district UIL competition a few weeks ago. While there, they received a superior rating which meant they got to move on to the next level which would be area competition. They had their area competition yesterday. Out of 21 High School Marching bands, 10 bands get picked to go to finals that evening. From that, the judges only pick 4 bands to move on to state competition in a week in San Antonio. The Kaufman Lions Marching Band (the kids’ school) did make it through preliminary competition yesterday to the finals last night, but did not place in the top 4. All the kids are very sad.

Michael actually felt like going with me to what the kids perform yesterday. We planned it to get their right before their performance and did. We watched their performance and stayed through final performances. Today, he is tired, but was glad to go watch the kids. We are very proud of their performances, but sad they didn’t get to make it to state.

Tomorrow we go back to the oncologist and get his blood work done. We will go there every Monday.

Day 5 – He gets to go home!!

We talked with his oncologist this morning. He said right now his blood counts look good and he needs to get a shot and we can go home!! We will have to go back to the office every Monday to have his blood drawn and meet with the oncologist in two weeks.

Before we left, he got his shot (to help regenerate the white blood cells / bone marrow) and finished up his other preventative medicines. They did say that one of the side effects from the shot is his bones will hurt. We did get home this afternoon and he is resting. He is extremely tired and week today. He does have nausea again.

I don't think either of us expected it to be like this. I mean, we did our research, we had others tell us what to expect; but until you go through it, or watch your loved one go through it, you really can’t describe it. From what we here, he will still feel down for a few more days. I will say that the nursing staff we had in the hospital is very good at explaining things to us.

He will get to be home now for 3 weeks. When we go back to the oncologist on the 3rd, we will discuss the next treatment date.

Day 4 of First Chemo Cycle

Today the fatigue really set in. He very week and had some nausea. This is the last chemo treatment in this cycle. You can see where this has taken a lot out of him. We will meet with the doctor in the morning and see what the schedule will be for the next few days. I do know he had said something about giving him a shot tomorrow but not sure if they will let him come home tomorrow or Tuesday.

I will try to give a better update tomorrow.

Days 2 and 3 of first chemo cycle

Someone did ask if the cancer had spread. No. All the results came back good from the bone biopsy, bone marrow, bone scan and the CT scan.

Day 2:
Yesterday was an alright day for him. They like to begin them at the same time every day so he received his chemo treatment in the afternoon. The whole process each day will take several hours so he wasn’t done until late yesterday evening. At least they were able to control his nausea.

Day 3:
He is feeling more fatigue each day of the treatments. This evening he looked very tired. They are still keeping the nausea under control at this point so that is a good thing. He will get one more round of the chemo meds tomorrow. If all goes well after that, he should be able to go home Monday or Tuesday.

Back to the Hospital (October 16th) - First Chemotherapy Treatment

We arrived at the hospital at 7am. We met with the doctor and he went through the entire process. He will be getting 3 different meds for Chemo; one he will get the first day only, one he will get on the first and second day, and one he will get for the first 4 days. On the 5th day he will get a shot that will help with the blood counts and then he should be able to go home. Each drug does have different side effects that we will have to monitor. He will also be getting some preventative medicines throughout the treatments that should help to keep some of the major side effects not be as bad.

Around 11:00am they did take him into surgery. They implanted a port into his chest. The port is a catheter that they place into the jugular vein through his chest which allows them draw blood, place IV’s, and where he will get his chemo. He came out of recovery around 3:00. They began his Chemo treatment around 5:00 and it lasted until about 9:00. He did get very sick afterwards.

Michael's Decision

After lots of consideration, Michael is going to begin the treatments. We will go to the Jackson Building of Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas the morning of Thursday, October 16th.

Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers.

Second meeting with Oncologist (October 9th) - We know a little more!!

We met with the oncologist again. We discussed lots of things with the doctor and had a lot to think about. As he stated, this is a pediatric bone cancer. We need to treat this cancer very aggressively with lots of chemotherapy. He has seen where there are a few documented cases similar to Michaels (location of the cancer and his age), but not many. He is going to treat this cancer as he would a kid. He did give us the option of going to Houston to MD Anderson and meeting with an oncologist that specializes in sarcomas.

Each Chemotherapy treatment cycle will consist of 1 week in the hospital and three weeks home. He will get chemotherapy for 5 days while in the hospital and then go home. We will do this for 6 cycles. After that, they will begin radiation and then re-evaluate. At that point they may or may not decide to do another 6 cycles of chemo.

He did say that all the tests they ran earlier (bone biopsy, bone marrow, bone scan, and the CT) did come back good. So that means only the tumor that was in the spinal fluid was it. He asked us to go home, think about what we wanted to do and call him again in the morning.

More Testing (October 6th)

We went back to the Hospital to have his bone scan and CT scan done. This process took all day.

First meeting with Oncologist (October 2nd)

We did find out it is called a "Ewing Sarcoma". This type is generally found in younger (10 - 20 years old) people and usually in the extremities and is generally a "bone" cancer. It is not always in the bone tissue, but can be in the muscle tissue and can "rarely" get in the nerve sheath. They say this is very rare because of the location and with his age. We are doing what they call "staging" gathering all the information they can before we do decide on a treatment plan.

They did do a bone marrow test today and also took biopsy off the bone. Yes, it was very painful for him. Monday I will have to take him back to the hospital for more testing. They are going to run a bone scan (which takes about 4 - 5 hours) and do a full body CT scan to include all the parts they didn't get last month.

Every Tuesday they have what the doctor referred to as a "sarcoma" conference. The Doctor with take Michael's case, present it to them and discuss it. It's a team of oncologists, orthopedic surgeons, and a bunch of other medical professions involved in cancer here in the Dallas area.

We will go back to see the Oncologist next Thursday to follow up with the testing and the meeting. At that point we may discuss treatment or the may send him down to MD Anderson in Houston and have them do a workup for a second opinion.

Generally the way they would treat this is with Chemo, Radiation, and then possible removal, but they had already removed it. Right now he is not real sure what treatment options they are going to go with. He did say he does want to go after it progressively.

They are talking possibly both Chemo and Radiation but due to the rarity of this (his age and the location of the sarcoma) they are not real sure if the Chemo will even get to the effected area. He did say it is likely it could come back if we do nothing.

Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers!!

Initial Diagnoses of the Tumor

We did finally get some information (not enough) on the tumor. They say it is not-benign (cancer but not sure what level yet) and that it is a type of sarcoma (a malignant tumor that begins growing in connective tissue such as muscle, bone, fat, or cartilage. Sarcomas may occur in any part of the body, and are typically fast-growing and quick to spread). They still are not real sure what it is and have sent it off for further testing. They have now referred him to an oncologist. Right now the oncologist is going over his entire case history with both doctors before we can get in to see him. We are hoping to get in next week to see what we will do from here. I do know they said he will need further testing.

Michael actually feels pretty good now that they removed the tumor and it is not messing with his nerves. His pain level has drastically dropped and his walking is getting steadier each day. As for the news this week, well we will have to see. We were hoping for the best and now it looks like the road is getting longer to travel.

I will keep you updated as we know more. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers through this time.

Tumor Removal

Some of you may know or may not know. Some may only know part of the story so I may repeat myself on parts of it.

Earlier this year (around March / April), Michael was having problems with his legs and hands and we went to see our new family doctor at the time (our old family doctor had to retire and become Mayor of Kaufman). He said it was arthritis, which I have seen arthritis and knew it wasn’t that. We did know, or at least we felt, it was not related to his two back surgeries back in 2006. So not liking that answer, we found ourselves a new family doctor.

Going to this doctor and talking with his PA, they felt that this was a bigger picture with something possible like MS or Lupus and wanted to eliminate all things. They did a complete blood workup and sent him for a brain MRI and then sent us to a neurologist specializing in MS. The brain MRI showed he did have a brain (joke with us) and that it looked very healthy. The neurologist ruled out MS and said it was carpal tunnel syndrome. Knowing Michael, he got frustrated with doctors, and went on with the pain and discomfort. The symptoms he has was not all the time, they would come, stay for a bit, and then get better.

Mid-August, the symptoms got pretty bad. At this point, his legs would jerk, causing his back to hurt where the fusion is from his surgery. He had weakness in his legs. He then called his orthopedic surgeon and scheduled an appointment. It did take about 1 ½ weeks to get in to see him and we saw him on Tuesday August 26th. At times, Michael had to struggle to walk. The doctor took one look at Michael and admitted him to the hospital for testing. He said that he looked worse than both his surgeries put together.

They began running all kinds of tests on Wednesday and found a tumor located inside the spinal cord in the fluid and it was entangled with his nerves and called in a neurosurgeon. By Friday he was not able to walk at all. Friday August 29th, he went into surgery to have the tumor removed. They surgery lasted 6 ½ hours. They neurosurgeon did say he able removed the entire tumor and only 3 nerves were damaged and un-repairable by the tumor. We will have to wait and see what they are and how it can affect him. They did s end the tumor off for testing to see what it is. They told me it could take several days to see what it is. They had him in ICU from Friday evening until Monday afternoon due to the fact that they had to open the spinal cord and drain the fluid. Wednesday he was able to get up and actually walk again. They let us go home on Thursday September 4th.

All he is able to do right now is sit, stand, and walk. No lifting, bending, twisting, etc. He has been off work now for over a month and we don’t know if and when he will get to go back. We do go back next week sometime to the neurosurgeon to see if he will be able to begin doing more. His orthopedic surgeon is staying on the case as his primary doctor.