Just as things were beginning to look up following the reversal! He rode 6 miles on his home trainer Wednesday evening, then we had dinner. Following a bout of clustering, he started to experience back pain, which became extreme during the night. When I took him to the ER Thursday morning he had to crawl to the car, his legs wouldn’t hold him. And sure enough, an MRI revealed a recurrence at L4 (the site of cancer discovery 4+ years ago), and a new met at L3 causing stenosis of the canal.
Because of fear that this would lead to permanent nerve damage, he had surgery almost immediately. We are lucky that the neurosurgeon was available and is a specialist - otherwise they’d have flown him to Seattle or SLC.
Surgery went very well. Cancer tissue was removed, the canal was cleaned, DH is feeling his legs again. Of course it’s yet another major surgery - he’s now got veterbral fusion from L2 to L5, they added screws in L2 to maintain structural integrity - but there wasn’t any other option.
To top it all, his pre op Covid test came back positive!! I’m the only one who’s seen him since his reversal surgery, and I’m negative, so he probably caught it in his first hospital stay... So I’m not allowed to visit him. Good thing we can visit remotely!
I’m not sure how long he’ll stay in the hospital; at least the weekend, probably a bit longer, depending how quickly he can walk again. Then he’ll have to go through the whole rigmarole again, using a walker, wearing a corset, etc...
And of course, the surgeon was only able to remove tumor outside the bone, so DH will need radiation at some point (we may travel back to Portland for SBRT like 3 years ago, that worked well at least for a while).
This damn disease, I tell you...
You have been such a pillar of strength for your husband. This damn disease!! Sending both of you courage and a speedy recovery to your husband.