Quickie update . . .

I'm really, really gonna try very, very hard to keep this one to a minimum, as it's not yet too late, and I really, really want to try to get and get to bed early tonight, for once . . .

Bob's orthopedic surgeon, the super-star of the surgery, came in to see him today . . .walked in as a PT, Bob's nurse and I were in the process of transferring Bob from the bed to the recliner by the window, a particularly difficult, messy one this time . . .Bob has been in immense pain on his left side over the past couple days, and this transfer was particularly excruciating, starting with the brace, ending with the transfer to the chair . . . slow-going, Bob crying out in pain, with every awkward hop, slide, hop, slide, hop slide of him and his walker, painstakingly making his way to the recliner next to the bed. Instead of ducking out of the room as I thought the surgeon might, the surgeon stayed and watched the transfer. Good timing, I thought, to be able to see, in action, where Bob is, two weeks out from surgery . . .

His surgeon, is sofa king awesome, plain and simple. The kind of doc who, when we meet with, I have always have tons of questions, but don't have to ask any, because he covers everything . . . we did have lots of questions, concerns, and damn, if the dude didn't stay for a good half hour going over what was immediate concerns for Bob, giving us some explanations as to what we might expect as Bob heals and recovers. I actually think he's kinda like the Maytag repair guy—not a whole lotta people with sarcomas around (less than 1% of all cancers are sarcomas. . .),

I made the comment that it would be so helpful to have a model of a pelvis in front of us, so I could visualize better what had been done during the surgery, what was removed, what was left (he had shown us that once before, but it was pre-surgery, months ago, and back then, it was so hard to put it into context, to conceptualize what he was talking about . . .) He asked, "How long are you going to be here? I can run over to my office on Riverside and be back in 45 minutes or so . . ." and does. And with the pelvis model, proceeds to show and tell us where the tumor was, how he went about extracting it from Bob's pelvis, how the pelvic structure is now affected, with a big chunk missing, how the exposed, cut bone surfaces are supposed to recover—they'll shift, move, slide toward each other, "collapse onto each other," the surgeon said, and eventually scar over, adding structural support to the site.

The shifted pain Bob's now experiencing (excruciating, intense pain, different from what it was like on the right side, which, incidentally, doesn't have much pain any longer, other than some nerve "zingers," he calls them, down his leg and into his toes), could be due to the shifting of the bones in his pelvis—plate tectonics going on within his own body—as they slowly move toward each other. The surgeon said he could already see evidence of this on the most recent CT scans. And, so many structures within his body were involved—muscles peeled back, nerves stretched and moved, vessels cut, bone chiseled—that there will be considerable changes over time, as things settle, heal, scar. The pain could also, in part be due to the fact that Bob is having to use his left leg exclusively to move, balance, pivot, hop, bear all his weight . . .

I asked the surgeon (I really need an alias for this doc, too, 'cuz I'm sick of calling him "the surgeon" . . .ummmmm, okay, let's call him Doc Superstar, since everyone kept referring to him as "the star of the show," in reference to the surgery) for him about the medieval brace and how necessary it is to have that on Bob during the day, and how the process of putting it on and taking it off correctly, transferring him, etc. may be impacting his healing. We're told the brace is really more for Bob's comfort and stability: "it's not like his leg is going to fall off if he doesn't wear it . . ." good to know. We could try doing his PT/OT stuff without it, he suggested, see how that goes. Bob doesn't know if he's up for that yet; he said that once the brace is on, as much as an exercise in torture that it is to get to that point, it keeps his leg in a stable position, keeps it from dragging, pulling him down, since he still has very limited use of the leg at this point. Makes him feel safer, I'm sure.

I ask Doc Superstar if it's okay to try getting him up and off the bed without the brace, and then try putting it on him, while he's standing, with the walker. Shouldn't be a problem, we're told . . . He spends at least another 1/2 hour with us, before having to get on to another appointment. Bob's nurse for the day was with us the entire time Doc Superstar was with us, her mouth agape nearly the entire time. "Wow!" she exclaimed when he had left."What a wonderful doctor! I'm telling you, we just don't see doctors like that, a surgeon who comes in and spends so much time and is so thorough and has such great communication skills with patients. I am so impressed! You really had a great surgeon, Bob!" He nods in agreement.

So, when PT showed up later in the a.m., we tried the new technique—got Bob upright without the brace, then put it on him when he was standing. . . worked like a charm. Not only less pain, but a helluva lot quicker, not having to struggle maneuvering the brace and Bob in bed, rolling him one way, shoving the cumbersome plastic structure under him, then rolling him back onto it, strapping the leg support, then having to help him sit upright with this contraption on. It's so much easier to see how the brace needs to fit around him when he's upright, too, another bonus. And, getting him back to bed was as easy—had him stand with the walker, took it off, then eased him back into bed.

The NG tube was taken out this morning, and he's back on a clear liquid diet, with TPN (liquid nutrition) via IV, and will be monitored very carefully; as he's able to tolerate liquids, they'll conservatively add more to his diet . . .

's all fer tonight, peeps. eyes feel grainy, heavy, fingers ain't typin' so well . . . midnight. at least a few hours earlier than I normally get to bed! Mission accomplished! xxooxxoo! and Love! to all!