Journal entry by Steve Parsons —
Many thanks to all of you for your outreach and support.
It has been a whirlwind month but a good one. John was released from the hospital last Monday afternoon after a week of changing expectations and huge emotions.
We went from him having a grapefruit-sized cancerous sarcoma to having no cancer but a very dangerous infectious abscess. As you may remember the first sign that something was wrong was when the abscess started pushing out against the skin on John's right flank above the hip. It eventually came through the skin creating a very painful bulge that made it hare to sit, drive or sleep.
It was surgically drained while he was in the hospital and the doctor explained to me just how dangerous the infection was. If it had burst and released all the toxins into his system in could have been very damaging; even fatal. Once the encapsulated infection was removed it left a wound about the size of the palm of your hand (adult) and the surgical incision is still open requiring twice weekly wound care by nurses and doctors at the hospital. It consists of removing gauze that is packed into the open wound; cleaning it entirely and then repacking the open wound with fresh gauze. This will continue for approximately 4-6 weeks.
He is improving but there is still discomfort especially from bumps/jostling as we drive.
John saw the surgical oncologist today who was pleased with his progress. Now it's time to improve his stamina and stabilize his weight, which dropped dramatically.
All this will take time - but the wonderful thing is we now have time! Thanks, again, to all of you for your prayers, warm wishes, emails and note cards. We wish you all a wonderful Spring and hope that all y'all will have both COVID vaccines very soon.
Much love, Steve (and John)
It has been a whirlwind month but a good one. John was released from the hospital last Monday afternoon after a week of changing expectations and huge emotions.
We went from him having a grapefruit-sized cancerous sarcoma to having no cancer but a very dangerous infectious abscess. As you may remember the first sign that something was wrong was when the abscess started pushing out against the skin on John's right flank above the hip. It eventually came through the skin creating a very painful bulge that made it hare to sit, drive or sleep.
It was surgically drained while he was in the hospital and the doctor explained to me just how dangerous the infection was. If it had burst and released all the toxins into his system in could have been very damaging; even fatal. Once the encapsulated infection was removed it left a wound about the size of the palm of your hand (adult) and the surgical incision is still open requiring twice weekly wound care by nurses and doctors at the hospital. It consists of removing gauze that is packed into the open wound; cleaning it entirely and then repacking the open wound with fresh gauze. This will continue for approximately 4-6 weeks.
He is improving but there is still discomfort especially from bumps/jostling as we drive.
John saw the surgical oncologist today who was pleased with his progress. Now it's time to improve his stamina and stabilize his weight, which dropped dramatically.
All this will take time - but the wonderful thing is we now have time! Thanks, again, to all of you for your prayers, warm wishes, emails and note cards. We wish you all a wonderful Spring and hope that all y'all will have both COVID vaccines very soon.
Much love, Steve (and John)
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