Youth was serving: fresh-faced plastic surgeons lend hand in cancer comeback

Maybe they grow plastic surgeons real young around here. Or maybe they practice face lifts on each other.
Or maybe I am firmly an old fart.
Whatever the reason, my eighth surgery, a "flap," to help close the wound in my back, has made me aware of how many apparent young phenoms work in plastics at VGH. We've met a handful of surgeons leading up to and following my operation last Tuesday and, to be honest, I was continually left making Doogie Howser references. Of course, I made them only to myself and Carol-Ann, since this group probably never saw the TV show, which was in production from 1989-93.
In interest of full disclosure (my old favourite line makes a return), the treatment we've received from the plastics (as they are called)has been top shelf. They were very good about letting us know their A plan and their fallback strategy in case things didn't work initially.
Luckily for Carol-Ann and I, their idea came together on the first go. In fact, Carol-Ann says that plastics surgeon Dr. Boyle told her, "Things couldn't have gone better."
To Steve-it-down, the doctors took parts of my trapezius muscles and folded them to fill a void in the middle of my back, which was created by three infection washout surgeries. The infection was a result of needing a back reconstruction surgery just days after completing my 20th radiation treatment, which was due to a Solitary Plasmacytoma tumor camping out in my T-2 vertebrae. (My good friend Carla McAloney says that I don't have to mention the Solitary Plasmacytoma every blog. I say, "What does she have against a Solitary Plasmacytoma?" Or maybe
she doesn't appreciate new readers, ones who haven't heard about my Solitary Plasmacytoma? Or maybe doesn't like big words, like Solitary Plasmacytoma? Oh, Carla.)
Our spine surgeon, Dr. Robert Lee, tried to get the wound to close, but the combination of radiated skin and nothing behind it to stitch to made it impossible.
For what it is worth, this likely the most pain I've been in since the early stages of the Solitary Plasmacytoma (Take that, Snarla). The plastics say it's completely normal.
I should go back to GF Strong for a third try at rehab later this week hopefully.

He'll be coming down the mountain to do my stitches; spine surgeon amazes yet again

How will we ever thank Dr. Robert Lee?
Seriously. We could use the ideas.
There have been a bus load of people who have been integral to Carol-Ann and I so far surviving this ordeal, one that began with a tumour being found in my T-2 vertebrae in October and has included seven surgeries, two of which featuring rods and screws being placed in my back to stabilize it. Lee, a spine surgeon at VGH, has been particularly paramount.
The good doctor, who got into a battle at VGH to get my biopsy done in a timely manner after it was initially postponed and was keeping tabs on me while visiting his family in England in early December with such fervour that he telephoned Carol-Ann at the hospital to make a couple of suggestions about my care, added to his list of good deeds on Saturday when he had us meet him at VGH to sew up a wound on my back after I had torn out some stitches rehabbing at GF Strong.
The catch? He was on his day off, skiing at Whistler, and hustled down the mountain and back to the hospital to meet us.
(Worried about the new stitches, Dr. Lee has put restrictions on my mobility over the next two weeks, including keeping me from propelling my own wheelchair. I'm not pleased about it, but I'll make it through. For what it's worth, I haven't felt this strong physically or mentally since November.)
The very fact that we even had the surgeon's cell number has stunned nurses both at VGH and GF.
You read the papers (particularly the Province...shameless sucking up to my employer) and you watch the nightly news on TV and there are routinely stories about how messed the B.C. medical system is. Sorry. It's like nothing we've experienced. People have gone out their way, done more than their share, to make these last few months a little less nightmarish. Dr. Lee, of course, has been at the top of that list.
If you have any clue how we can show our appreciation, drop me a line.

Another surgery on cancer comeback trail and that's no bull

Let's try to make this quick.
Went to GF Strong. Improved initially, but then left leg stopped working. Sent back to VGH for MRI, but it found nothing. Back to GF. Didn't improve. Back to VGH, had surgery. Took out broken rod and drained fluid. Also took out "good" rod, which was bent. In their place, Dr. Robert Lee went with four rods, doubling up on his construction at the lower part of the spine.
Got that? Good.
It is a massive step back, but somehow Carol-Ann is staying positive and I am trying to follow her lead. We will be at VGH until early next week, Dr. Lee hopes, and then try GF again. It is hard to believe that this all started with a Solitary Plasmacytoma in the T-2 vertebrae and has since led to seven surgeries, including two major back ones.
We are still having fun. We got to talking about rodeos with Dr. Lee, a Brit, and somebody joked about me riding bulls, much to Dr. Lee's chagrin, considering his most recent handiwork.
To be frank, I am a big wuss. Carol-Ann brought up me being afraid of donkeys, after watching one donkey put the boots to another donkey at 108 Mile a couple of summers ago.
Lee's response? "But you're not a donkey, Steve."
Little does he know, of course.