Thank God & Take Courage
Because they only took 1 and 1/2 cm of bone this time and no additional muscle, as opposed to 20 cm of bone, an entire muscle, portions of two additional muscles, and funneling out a biopsy track, I expected this recovery to be a breeze. But it felt like starting over and took almost as long as the first one to recover.
Surgery recovery was so different than I expected. I knew there would be pain, but I didn’t realize how much kids need to sleep afterward (sometimes scary amounts of sleep that make you feel like something is wrong … it’s not, they’re just exhausted and recuperating from anesthesia. But I also expected him to wake up ravenously hungry. Your body has increased caloric needs during recovery, especially in protein; but the anesthesia meds and narcotic pain killers also slow down your gut motility and suppress your appetite.
Liam had just been starting to eat better after his first surgery when he got walloped with the second one and then he went another week and a half of hardly eating at all. He looked so thin and frail. It hurt me terribly to think of him starting chemo like that.
On Saturday Adam tore his knee up terribly playing basketball and tearing around with a friend. He had a huge skin abrasion that went second degree in part of it. I just shook my head. The week prior he was running and saw a road barricade so he tried to jump it. His foot caught on the upper rail and he nearly landed in the sink hole it the barricade was keeping people out of. He shattered his phone screen, but thankfully he was ok. Those kinds of shenanigans are just part of life with boys, but we were all starting to worry about his leg pain that didn’t go away.
Last fall he started training for a 10K. He did great and came in top of his age division. Toward the end of training he developed some significant leg pain. It would go away and come back. He refused to stop running so I finally took him to the pediatrician. She said he needed to rest it and then he could start back up. He didn’t run much anymore until we got to New York City. The city is so perfect for running and it was a great outlet for exercise. He loves it and quickly set a goal to run 50 miles in January. The pain came back full force. He tried to pretend he wasn’t worried and it was just shin splints, but we all had a little worry in the back of our minds. You can’t watch how innocuously bone cancer starts and how devastating its reality is without doing it.
When I heard Liam tell him, “you know that’s exactly how mine acted,” I knew it was time. Tuesday morning I had a telehealth with our pediatrician in Virginia. It felt crazy. Sitting beside one child in NYC recuperating from his second surgery talking to our pediatrician in VA on the computer while holding my phone and face timing Adam so that we could all three talk. She agreed it was time for an X ray just to make sure.
Reading stories of people who live life with great courage always inspire me. Today these words from the apostle Paul reached deep into the foundation of my heart. So take heart, men, for I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I have been told. Acts 27:25
That day we kept getting yes then no answers about discharge. Liam and I were both so ready. After the first surgery it was me who was holding back. I wasn’t convinced we were ready. This time the doctors were holding back and I said, “We know what we’re doing. We can do this.” It’s amazing how fast you learn a new dynamic.
We knew exactly how to move Liam’s leg when getting in and out of bed, navigate going to the bathroom, the order for sitting down … get in position, take crutches, he grabs the seat while I simultaneously lift his leg in the right places but not too fast and then ease with his body to get to the right spot. It’s trickier with the wheelchair because you have to lock the leg rests in the right places and our wheelchair is a wimp that already has pieces that aren’t working correctly. Or maybe it just wasn’t made for boys who race down bumpy paths and sidewalks outside.
The nurse made a few phone calls to get a CPM machine up so we could learn because that was the last holdup and just like that they said we could go home! We were ecstatic!
My mom arrived on the train while we were gone and early Wednesday morning David and Adam headed to Virginia … David to work and Adam for an Xray and snowboarding as soon as it cleared.