Hasta la Vista, baby...

The literal translation of Hasta la Vista is “until the seeing” or “until we meet again”, so where I wanted to end the blog in a similar way it started (an Arnold Schwarzenegger quote), Adios would be the better choice of word.

We have had a couple of questions regarding dad’s progress since the surgery, so here is one last update to close this chapter of his life.

After the original surgery on October 30, 2009, dad headed back home to Texas and was on his way to recovery. He was almost in the clear when a pesky little infection snuck up on him and caused a minor set-back. Because the doctors were concerned about the infection getting to the brain, they decided to open the incision back up to take a look around, which was all done in Texas. Luckily the infection was only on the exterior of the skull and on the bone piece that was replaced after the surgery. They removed that piece of bone and sewed him back up.

Dad was on strong antibiotics administered twice daily, through a picc line (peripherally inserted central catheter) in his arm, for 6 weeks to ensure that all infection would be destroyed. Thankfully, mom was willing to learn how to administer the IV so that they were able to do it all from home and they didn’t have to drive back and forth to the doctors each time.

Now that the antibiotics are done and the picc line is removed, dad has been released for full and normal activity. He is back to work, though at a lesser capacity, and getting back into some regular exercise again. He just made a trip to the Michigan office and is getting back into the swing of things. He is doing great and we don’t anticipate any further problems. As a matter of fact, because of the infection the doctors did another MRI to check for signs of infection on the brain. Not only did they not see any infection, but they could also see clearly that the tumor was completely gone.

Thanks again for all of the support our family received during this time in our dad’s life. It means a lot to us and to dad. We are happy to be able to get back to life as normal and move forward. If ever there was a bright side to this situation, it would be a better appreciation for life, love, family and friends. Adios.