Red Band Society Episode 2: A Sarcoma Patient's Perspective

Red Band Society Episode 2 - Sole Searching

Jordi goes into his leg amputation surgery.  On his legs, he's written with black marker on one, "This leg" and on the other, "Not this leg".

I chuckled at that.  It reminded me that we had actually thought about writing a note on my forehead for the surgeon!  We eventually decided not to do that.  But we did stick a typed up note to my arm, with instructions about the peculiarities of my catheter line that goes from the arm to the heart.

Before anethesia kicks in, Dr. McAndrew tells Jordi to think about a happy memory, then the doctor starts counting down and the view starts to get fuzzy.

I've been in anethesia many times, and I thank God for it!  Things get fuzzy, then it seems like I'm in a deep sleep - I don't hear, see or smell anything, until the procedure is done.  AND the biggest thing is they ALWAYS wipe away your memory.  Yep.  It's quite scary that it's possible, but it makes going through surgery much more pleasant.

When Jordi is under anethesia, Charlie, the boy in the coma, appears to Jordi and wants to play games with him. 

Unfortunately, when I'm under anethesia, no one's ever appeared me, like in this episode.   I wish it was that exciting to go into anethesia :-)  With all the times I've had anethesia, I could have played quite a few board games with Charlie!

Both Cancerhusband and I said "Uh oh..."  We knew that meant the cancer had spread, and he needed to have systemic treatment, such as chemotherapy to shrink the tumor first.

Whenever I go into surgery, there is always a possibility that things are worse than they first appeared, or complications occur in the procedure.  I try to prepare myself for the worst, but always hope for the best.  This means that I try to be at peace with the worse case senario.  Yes, there may be lots of crying before to come to terms with it. But when God's peace fills my heart, and I let go of my well-being to the surgeon and his team, I'm ready to go through the procedure.

So, it is always a relief when I wake up after the procedure, and I'm still alive.

Dr. McAndrew struggles with sharing the bad news with Jordi and it weighs heavy on him.

I'm constantly in awe of the work that surgeons do.  The amount of skill and responsibility that is entrusted to the surgeon is tremendous.  Making immediate decisions that impact the patient's life, that's pretty heavy!

Watch Red Band Society Wednesday 8/9C Fox or online.