Dear Friends and Family,
Oregon is a beautiful place to live year-round, but Autumn in particular brings about a change in color that is quite stunning. And it’s not just shades of green, orange, and red; certain flowers fade and others bloom. Portlanders can grow and harvest throughout the seasons. Pumpkin growing contests between neighbors is the real deal here. Erin, the boys and I recently took advantage of a long weekend and the mild weather to visit a town about one hour from Portland called McMinnville. McMinnville is smack dab in the middle of wine country. They have an aviation museum with Howard Hughes’ Spruce Goose (the largest airplane ever built), as well as a Wave and Waterpark which has slides literally coming out of the fuselage of an old 747 airline that sits on the roof of the building! It’s quite a site to see and dreamland for my boys, who are turning out to be major aviation enthusiasts—like father, like son(s)! Alex and Dean attend the same elementary school as my sister's kids and so far, so good in Kindergarten and Fourth grade.
Since my last post in August there’s a lot to report regarding my health. The surgery I had in Portland which was meant to close my wound went well, and shortly after surgery I began a 7 week round of IV antibiotics. In order for antibiotics to be delivered intravenously doctors had to insert a PICC line (similar to a PORT) on the inside of my upper left arm. At first, I was self-administering 1.5 hours of antibiotics 2x/daily at home. This was super time-consuming and cumbersome as I had to carry around an IV pole wherever I went while receiving the drugs. Thankfully, after about a week of that the doctor changed me to a different IV antibiotic that only took five minutes a day and I could administer through a syringe—I was happy to see the pole go back in the box. I tolerated the second antibiotic better than the first, but seven weeks was still a long time to be on strong antibiotics. Everything was running smoothly until…
About one month after my early August surgery I had my stitches removed. Not a day later it was apparent that my wound had not sealed. Unfortunately, surgery didn’t work! So…we scheduled a second surgery on September 20 (again in Portland) called a rotational flap. This out-patient surgery took healthy tissue from the base of the back of my neck and rotated it over the open wound. Sounds a bit freaky, but it’s not an uncommon procedure for plastic surgeons to use for wound healing purposes. If there’s an interest, a more detailed explanation of a “rotational flap” can be found on the internet. Afterwards, I was put on oral antibiotics and crossed my fingers that after they took out the stitches in four weeks that my wound would be healed. Frustratingly, that was not the case. Much to my dismay, this procedure didn’t work either plus the added downside is the antibiotics made me feel really lousy: weight loss, low energy, dizziness, major gut discomfort. To be fair, I’m not positive that the culprit behind my malaise is the antibiotics, it’s more likely due to the fact that my head has a hole in it!
My third date with a surgeon in as many months now lurks on the horizon to once and for all get this wound healed. This time I'm in Nashville, TN with my dad at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Under my uncle's watchful eye, I'm getting red carpet treatment--medically speaking. Keep in mind it’s been months since I’ve been able to do any kind of cancer treatment due to the open wound. So, the sooner this thing heals, the better. On Tuesday, October 24 I will have a “free flap” procedure which is much more involved than the other two and requires several days of close monitoring in ICU after the surgery due to risk of a blood clot. Instead of taking healthy tissue near the wound and 'rotating' it over the wound, they will cut a long piece of healthy artery and 'free' skin from another body part entirely: my thigh. This longer strip of healthy tissue will be connected from good blood supply in my neck to good supply in the back of my head. It will not look pretty, but that’s the least of my concerns—I need to get this wound closed!!! I am told that the piece of overlapping skin that will be visible on my neck can be removed after a few months of healing. My thigh incision should heal “normally” and I’ll have a scar there. The new skin on the back of my head will remain.
This complicated procedure is done by a team of doctors over 5-6 hours. The neurosurgeon will go in and take out all the “hardware” (i.e. mesh and metal plates), whereas the plastic surgeon(s) are responsible for the actual free flap. The foreign hardware will not be replaced this time so ideally there’s zero risk of bacterial infection. Essentially once my wound is healed I should have a soft spot on the back of my head, which is just fine.
I am beyond frustrated that I have had to endure so many procedures the past few months, which have not healed this stubborn wound and contributed to a decline in my health. I’m hopeful this third approach will work and I’ll be feeling better both physically and mentally soon!
As always, thank you for your support and well wishes. If you're wondering about my support system here in Nashville, well, my dad is here now, my mom is coming in tomorrow, my uncle and my good friend, Holly, live here so I'm all good on that front. As much as Erin wishes he could be in two places at once, it's really best if he keeps our boys' routine as regular as possible.
Love,
Sareana
