On his way down to the OR at Wolfson's...in his usual good spirits. Below are the screws that were placed in the femoral neck (hip socket area)...much larger than expected!
As most of you know Christopher fell last Saturday at home and with the help of the Atlantic Beach Paramedics/Fireman made it to the Emergency room and was finally admitted to Wolfson's Children's Hospital at 3am. Not for Chemo this time...a badly fractured femoral head on his rt. side (the stump)that would require surgery.
The Dr.'s decided to do an MRI prior to surgery in addition to the X-Rays and Cat Scan to make sure there was not any disease (cancer). After a long couple days and the involvement of Dr. O'Connor (his surgeon at Mayo), they decided to wait on surgery as it appeared the original tumor had metastasized. He was scheduled for a chest CT and bone scan immediately.
Thankfully the chest CT came back clear and in the meantime Dr. O'Connor consulted with some specialists at Mayo and believed the "suspicious" areas on the MRI could be Osteopenia-a thinning of the bone as a result of lack of use. Mind you it had been 3 days at this point of wondering and waiting and poor Christopher was scheduled for surgery a few times...was not able to eat in preparation for this sometimes for almost 12 hours at a time, only to have the surgery cancelled. It was extremely tough on him. Very frustrating and quite scary to wonder and wait with no definitive answers, only that at some point his femur/hip would need to be fixed so that it did not shift and become irreparable.
Through all of this I do have to add that once again Christopher kept a cool head and continued to believe that his cancer was gone and this is just another bump in the road. He is continually entertaining the staff. The nurses are still talking about 5am comedy hour and the surgical team reported his comedic relief in recovery had made their day!
His surgery finally took place on Friday and went very well. The 2 large screws in the above picture were successfully placed and should help to secure his leg. He does have to wait at least another 6 weeks before thinking about the prosthesis but the leg should be good and strong by then. The bone was quite brittle and will require some extra care to make sure his bones stay in good health. Unfortunately he did bang the end of the stump, just when it had finally healed, so that too will have to heal.
I wondered, as you may be why they did not do a biopsy while he was in surgery and the answer was they do not want to disturb that area (low end of the femur) at this time. We are choosing to believe that this "scare" on the MRI is indeed merely bone loss.
He started Chemo yesterday rather than wait as he had after the first couple surgeries. He had already missed a week and the Dr.'s agreed it was best to start ASAP. They also decided to wait until the end of protocol to do a bone scan and instead focus on healing that leg (bone), and getting Christopher a prosthesis so that he can finally go about his day as normally and comfortably as possible. He will be in the hospital until late Tuesday or Wednesday. He is very happy to have had a surprise visit from his Dad this past week and is enjoying the company!
This disease is very unpredictable and at times pretty unforgiving however it is Christopher that reminds me it is one day at a time. Going into surgery, as I continued to question the Dr.'s and search for answers he said "Mom I am having surgery to fix my hip, that is all for today so let's just go with that." Amazing outlook and ability for this 12 year old to not only say that but to really live that every day.
As always I am very proud of his strength and courage and thank you all for your prayers this past week.
Peace,
Patty
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