Dupree Petty

In order to keep friends and family updated on Dupree's upcoming surgery and recovery, we have created this link.  Dupree's surgery is schedule for Wednesday, July 29 at MD Anderson in Houston.   We are currently in Houston for pre-op and Covid testing.    If everything goes according to plan his surgery is scheduled for early a.m. Wednesday.  The tentative timeline is to be in the hospital for 7 days following surgery and then in a hotel for 7 days after discharge.  He has pre-op tomorrow and Tuesday and we’ll find out more if I can be in the hospital on surgery day or will have to wait until he is in a room.  I will stay with him in the hospital as soon as I am allowed.

The back story is that Dupree has had pain in his jaw for over a year and has lost the ability to open his mouth very far. He has had numerous treatments this past year with no success.    The diagnosis is osteoradionecrosis which is a rare side effect of chemo radiated bone and tissue due to loss of blood flow.  In 2013, Dupree had 38 radiation treatments for cancer at the base of his tongue and while he is still in remission from cancer he now has to deal with this residual effect.  Fortunately, he was able to get into MD Anderson and was evaluated by several surgeons who confirmed this surgery to be his best shot as stopping further deterioration and providing more mobility in his jaw.

The surgery is long and complicated and will require removing bone from his fibula and using it to graph a new jaw bone.  His surgical team includes head and neck surgeon, dental surgeon and plastic surgeon.  We are still processing a lot of what we have been told regarding recovery in the hospital and at the hotel and what our roles in that recovery will be.  Both of us would rather be anywhere else…but this is the road we are on and we’ll see it through.

Specific prayer requests prior to surgery are:

                                That the surgeons are on their A game during surgery

                                That recovery after surgery goes without complications

                                That both of us can keep a positive attitude

                                That neither one of us contract this horrible virus

                                That this surgery fixes this necrosis and that his bone remains healthy


I will update this page as much as I can during our stay in Houston.  Your prayers are coveted and we know God has made available all these resources.   

Our love to our family for their continued prayers and to so many friends who have stood in the gap when our faith waivers. 

 

Psalm 91:14-16  “Because he loves me” says the Lord, “I will rescue him; I will protect him for he acknowledges my name.  He will call on me and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation”