A lesson in patience

For the moment, we’re waiting…or should I say, waiting again. But this time we’re waiting in the radiology department at Methodist Hospital, which is connected to the Mayo Clinic. Karl just got done drinking some yummy berry concoction that has radioactive iodine in it so that there is contrast in his CT scan. He has already been pegged as a pain in the butt by the staff at the desk. Go figure.

Let me just say that the Mayo Clinic is impressive. And huge. There are numerous hospitals interconnected by an underground system of hallways. There are areas where you can shop, lounge, use a computer to look at the Internet, or listen to various pianists, violinists, flutists, and soloists playing/singing upbeat music like Amazing Grace and God Bless America. Shuttles run from motel to hotel to hospital to clinic. It seems that the entire focus of Rochester, Minnesota is on the Mayo Clinic. People from all over the world come here. How blessed we feel that we were referred here. Karl’s doctors are very impressive, including the first physician who visited with us, Dr. Michael Nett. He showed us all of Karl’s films and gave us very interesting bits of information…Karl has a fracture on his sacrum. And he’s feeling like a tough guy because he’s been walking upright all this time with a broken back.

This morning’s meeting with Dr. Y was extremely informative, but we’re still waiting for a surgery date. The details of Karl’s surgery are, to say the least, overwhelming.

The bottom line is that Karl’s initial surgery to remove the tumor (and his broken back) will take 14-20 hours. His follow-up surgery to rebuild the sacrum will, if all goes well, follow in a week and will take another 8 hours. Karl was told to expect to be in the hospital for a month. His surgery will take place at St. Mary’s, which is the orthopaedic wing of Mayo, and he’ll be in the anesthesia ICU during that time…mostly to control his pain. In all, 8 surgical teams will be working to remove the tumor and repair the affected area to offer him the best chance of a cure and to get him back to some semblance of normalcy. He will be able to walk, in time, but because they are removing a large chunk of his spine, it will take some time.

In a nutshell, it will take 2-3 weeks for Karl’s wounds to heal before they can do more chemotherapy to make sure they zap any other cancer cells that may be floating around. They will probably also do some radiation. It will take another 6-9 months for his bones and bone grafts to heal…if all goes well. So, we’ll be waiting some more.

But we are prepared for the wait…even though we don’t know exactly what the wait will bring to us. As long as Karl has your prayers, good wishes and support, he can get through this…one day at a time.

Until then, we (Karl, Cindy Hook and I) will soon start back on the road for the 10-hour journey and will be home sometime early Friday morning, barring we don’t run into floods and tornadoes. Karl starts his fourth course of chemotherapy on Monday, and hopes to see you on Friday at the Rock N Bowl.

Wishing you God’s peace,

Kerry