Another Trip to Johns Hopkins- not for me though

Cancer Sucks!

Did I mention cancer sucks? My Dad has been battling skin cancer for quite some years. He had a spot behind his ear that had progressed to the point where he needed major surgery. He was hesitant to get it done, but finally decided to have it done at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore this past week.

I went up to provide my support and encouragement to him and my Mom. My sister Teri, brother-in-law Jim and my brother Chris had been accompanying him to his numerous medical appointments leading up to the surgery. Thanks to all of you! I drove up, leaving on Wednesday at 4:00 AM and after 15 hours on the road made it to the hotel which Teri had arranged. We got to visit for a short time that night and left for the hospital in the morning. Dad was so nervous he forgot his wallet and although we found out later it was not needed, Jim, Mom and I took a trip back to the hotel to get it.

He went back to the OR at 9 AM. They told us that it would be about 12 hours for the entire procedure. At 9 PM, after 12 hours of surgery, we were told it would be another 45 minutes. An hour later, the third surgeon that was working on him came out and told us Dad was stable and that the extra time was due to some problems they had due to the vein having issue passing a good blood supply to the skin graft. He said they would watch it very closely for the next 24 hours. The next day when we were visiting him, we found out that they would have to re-do the graft, so Dad had another 4 hours of surgery on Friday afternoon. Luckily, that graft was fine and he was moved out of ICU on Sunday and into a regular room.

I drove back to FL on Sunday and since I left at 3 AM was pretty tired when I got home at 5:30 PM, but I had to be back to work on Monday, so I had to be fresh.

We are still not sure what the prognosis is for what he may or may not have to do as for chemo or radiation or what, but we are keeping our fingers crossed. His recovery from this surgery is first and foremost, with the two skin-graft donor sites and a nerve donor site in both his legs, I’m sure he will be sore for a while. Hope you feel better soon Dad!