On Monday, March 19, 2001, Dale and I went down to the Cancer Centre for my three month CT Scan and my appointment with Dr. Macdonald. We thought it was to pick up my third chemo treatment, but as it turned out, the Dr. took me off the drug and made an appointment with Dr. Megyesi (Surgeon who did the first operation).
On Tuesday, March 20th we saw Dr. Megyesi. He had viewed the CT Scan and explained that it showed something worth taking a closer look at. Since damage from radiation (called necrosis) shows up on a scan as a tumor-like growth, it was worth having another surgery to remove it and have a biopsy at the same time. Surgery was scheduled for Thursday, March 22nd at 8 a.m.
Here I am in my hospital bed the night before my second surgery. Feeling great !
This is the morning of my surgery. Aren’t these "stockings" lovely ?? Actually they are critical since they prevent blood clots from forming once surgery is over and I’m confined to bed. Once up and walking around I will be able to remove them – can hardly wait !
This is a picture of my "mapping" that Dr. Megyesi did through the MRI to make surgery that much easier to perform.
Here I am in the "Obersvation – ICU Unit" following the six hour operation. I got up after only a few hours in the unit – hinting that I should go home, perhaps !?
The day after my surgery and out of I.C.U. ready to go home. Just sitting in the hallway watching all the nurses go by.
It is March 24th and I'm home once again showing off my stitches. The Dr. told us that staples can’t be used again for the second operation.
On March 27th, we noticed that there appeared to be fluid building up under the scalp where they had operated. Not knowing if this was serious, we called the Dr. and he told us to come to London and see him. When we got there he looked at it and ordered blood work to rule out infection. The tests all came back negative and it was concluded that the Dr. would re-apply a pressure bandage just like the one I had after surgery.
I have to let you in on a little secret. Even though this was a pressure bandage and was originally put on quite tightly, after a couple of days it started to become loose and eventually fell off. So, I devised a way to keep it on and keep the pressure on the area, by attaching some elastic to it. This elastic fit under my chin and it worked well. Now, for the mark down the bandage that you see in the picture – well, that was put there so that I would know the front from the back. Since the shape inside is totally different if put on backwards
I was able to look quite good in my bandage. This unusual idea worked until April 3rd when I went back to see the Dr. All was well and he removed my stitches.
On April 10th we went to see Dr. Macdonald to see how soon I would start my chemotherapy again and got a very pleasant surprise. The Dr. had reviewed the CT Scan taken right after surgery and the image was a very good one – not showing any activity. It was decided that I would not take anything and do another CT Scan in June. So, as things stand now I am drug free and loving it!!
