The Joe Britton News Site

Surgery E-Mail

Hello everyone,

Joe's surgery yesterday went well. It started at about 7:15 a.m. (our day started at about 5 a.m.) and finished about 11:15 or so.

We met with Dr. Buckwalter after he was done. His pronounciation was that it went well and that Friday was a "good day." They removed 7-9 cm from his radial bone and replaced it with a bone graft. He described the bone graft as a good fit. (yes, I know I said it was the ulna bone, more on that in a minute). Joe's pain level has been very managable so far - morphine post-op yesterday-just plain Tylenol has been enough today. He has been keeping his arm very still, only has pain when he tries to move his fingers. It is far to soon to tell if all the hand function is still intact, but so far so good. He can move each finger and seems to have sensation throughout all the fingers. He will be in a splint until any signs of swelling are gone and then in a cast.

We will get the results of the pathology report at his follow-up appointment sometime in the next two+ weeks. Ideally, we want to see no viable cancer cells remaining in the bone they removed. If that's the case, then onward with the chemo. Percentages of "dead" cells about 80% are good, below that, we would have to decide what to do next (most likely radiation to the arm). For now, I am picturing 100% dead cancer cells.

I am pretty tired and home for a nap before going back to the hospital. Joe will most likely be in until at least tomorrow, maybe longer. So far, minimal fever, and he is eating fine today (fine in his mind since his day started with a Krispy Kreme doughnut). He will most likely be at home all next school week.

On my bone mistake, all I can say is that early on, I thought they said the ulna, and then after that, everyone always said "the bone" or "his arm" or "his forearm." Even the consent form said just "left forearm." (I went back and looked). So imagine my surprise when Dr. Buckwalter said the radius after surgery. It is a good lesson for me - nobody's perfect. And at the end of the day, the outcome is what's important and it sounds like it went well and we are all feeling good.

Again, we are SO grateful for all the blessings everyone sends our way, you are all keeping us afloat.

Love, Jenny, Tom, Seth, Joe and Happy