The Next Day
Luke felt quite a bit better the next morning, except for the continual and heightening problem of exhaustion from lack of sleep and the hole in his head due to the recent 5.5 hour surgery. Nevertheless both the surgeons and nurses seemed pleased with his recovery. His speech and motor skills do not seemed to be impaired, though the swelling from surgery has left him looking for help with the occasional name or word – but we are crazy lucky that they are few and far between and that he is doing so well.
As tired as he was, we got the nurses to promise him some quiet time and I went out to the waiting room to give him further space to sleep for a solid couple of hours. At 2:00 they woke him for medicine and a brief walk around the ICU – easy breezy. Later that afternoon the physical therapist came by and they let Luke change into some comfortable street attire. The PT deemed Luke his easiest client all week as Luke walked cleanly and slowly out of the ICU to tour the 8th floor. He preceded to show us how he could balance on each foot and felt nearly “fine”, aside from the head wound, headache and swelling. Amazing. Certainly others in the ICU did not seem so lucky. The bigger problem in Luke’s case will surely be reigning him in and getting him to take it easy in the coming days, weeks and months.
We spent the majority of the afternoon trying to let Luke doze, which is nearly impossible with all the comings and goings of the nurses. We also patiently awaited a visit from the oncologist. There was a little hubbub about a swollen tonsil – for real?!? Later an ear, eyes, nose doctor would perform a scope and deem it “normal”, though potentially it could be checked again in 6 months – the least of our worries, I’m sure.
Finally the oncologist came by after 6:00 pm. Unfortunately we didn’t have the same affinity for her as we had for our surgeon. She mentioned a few trials that Luke may be eligible for in conjunction with the standard treatment of 6 weeks of radiation and 6 months of chemo. He will have a month reprieve between now and the beginning of radiation. Chemo will begin simultaneously, but he will be given another month’s reprieve from everything after radiation treatment. Both of these we’ll be able to do from our home – likely commuting to Idaho Falls for the radiation. The chemo is oral and given over 28 day cycles, with 5 days on and 23 off. The whole thing should take about 9 months from surgery to complete. There will be MRI’s every 2 months indefinitely. When we get farther out and if things are looking good, this schedule may be relaxed to every 3 months.
Luke asked for some statistics, which in retrospect may have been a bad idea. Of course the doctor clarified the stats with the fact that they included everyone from age 20 to 90, but they were clearly awful. In the next breath she did explain that she has patients that are 2, 5 and 10 years out with clean bills of health. Those people are the ones who are younger, healthy, and had aggressive surgery to remove the tumor – all of which apply to Luke who was laying in bed completely cognizant and “looking like a rose” in her words, a day after surgery.
No doubt he’ll be a statics breaker given that he is the Luke we all know and love – so strong, healthy, loving and positive with a lot to live for, but it’s hard not to consider the stats momentarily – which of course sent me off the deep end for a brief moment. Such a roller coaster. I think I was lulled into a somewhat false sense of security with the great outcome of the surgery and the great condition Luke is currently in – the combination made it easy to push the reality of the diagnosis aside. Luke, himself, is in unbelievable spirits and is crazy calm with whatever happens. He plans to adjust his frame of reference for future goals into a 2 year model vs a 20 year model for the time being. We can only hope those will continue to add up.
Certainly exposure to bizarre medical issues, like the one we’re facing, has the tendency to bring up stories from so many who either are survivors themselves or who have friends and family that are doing well years after exposure to something similar. These offer necessary hope. As the Duke doctor said – it’s all about mind set. Luke is all over it and is looking forward to a chapter of healthy living over the next long haul.
Due to a full house, he had to stay in the ICU again overnight, but the nurses were able to finally give him a little more breathing room to catch up on much needed sleep.
Recovered image references:
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