November 12, 2006 - We have another surgery coming up. Unfortunately, mom's main incision site from the kidney removal on September 14 is not healing well. So the surgeon needs to go back in and re-do the incision area to ensure that infection will not set in and that it will heal properly.

For us, this instills absolute horror not because of the surgery but because we swore once we left Jackson Memorial Hospital the last time, we'd never ever go back there. You'll remember that although the surgeon was top notch, the rest of it was just a disaster. Nonetheless, it seems since what is happening is considered a surgical complication, the only one who can fix it is the orginal surgeon who did the initial operation.

Unfortunately, the date for the surgery is November 22, the day before Thanksgiving. We are hoping mom will be discharged on Thanksgiving day, but given the keystone cop operations at Jackson where it appeared to us that the left hand and right hand were not in communication with one another, we aren't relying on anything. So our plan B is to pile everyone into cars and take a picnic Thanksgiving dinner down to mom if need be. Ilene and I have staked out all the good picnic areas from our last experience so we have that pretty well figured out. Of course, I will be staying with mom the entire time and will ensure this go around that the appropriate pain orders are written, in addition to ensuring that everything else goes smoothly. We are certainly NOT looking forward to this at all. But at least if we are placed back on the 14th floor post-operatively, we know which nurses to ask for and which ones to avoid.

This news coupled by our treating experts going AWOL (it has taken us a full week to get a surgery date and another full week to get the oncologist to call mom back and answer some important questions) has made for a hard week. The cancer diagnosis is bad enough, but not being able to rely on your expert medical staff makes the stress unbearable. I don't think anyone on our healthcare team realizes how their failure to get fully engaged impacts patients and their families.

Last, but not least, mom took her last Sutent pill on Sunday, November 5 (Ilene and I drank alcoholic beverages on mom's behalf and toasted to the first round being over). As with the beginning of the cylce, the three of us were on the phone together for the end of it and were so happy for that day! Mom is still suffering side effects - her hands are very sore and when she walks it feels like she is walking on glass. Her oncologist says we can take a break, have the surgery and recover and then start up at a lower dosage. We are praying that the Sutent is working its magic and that the little break won't inhibit what it is supposed to be doing to the cancer cells.

As always, angels, please say prayers.  We need them this week and always!

Happy Thanksgiving.