smodo2

Thank you all so much! It is most encouraging to hear from others who have had to travel on this precarious path, and I am sincerely grateful for you taking the time to respond.

We don’t think we should take the time to find another doctor, as I have read that CC is an aggressive cancer and it has already been 76 days since his symptoms presented. Dr. Cole is the surgical oncologist that will perform the surgery, and he is head of the dept. at MUSC with 18 years experience, so we feel comfortable with his level of experience.

I will definitely ask about the lidocaine ball – that sounds like a possible solution. The meds he had before were morphine and dilaudid; the hallucinations from dilaudid were not as bad as from the morphine. We talked with the doctor about this already, and he said they may use an epidural for the first three days, as he thought that would be better than IV injections.

This still seems so surreal – he appears to be in perfect health, has a great appetite, is regaining the weight he lost during the jaundice episode, and he has no pain at all. And yet they told us that even if it is benign, the same procedure must be done, as this is the only way to know for sure.

We want to travel and visit with all our family over the next 18 days – we have 6 children, 20 grands and great-grands, as well as 8 siblings and their families, so it will take some time to visit all of them. Our only concern with traveling is that we feel like we are sitting on a time bomb, and he may wake up tomorrow and be extremely sick. Do symptoms begin that quickly, or do they come on gradually?

Again, thank you all for your comforting words – we were so encouraged to read all your stories – especially that surgery gave Teddy 5 more years, and we would be so grateful if God allowed us that much more time! We will be praying for all of you! Patti