Below is an update I received from Phil Lacy on Bob Mays status today, March 18, 2009. Please keep Bob, Pam and their boys in your thoughts.
For those of you not getting updates on Bob’s condition from the Caring-bridge website, here is the latest.
Bob had an appointment at the hospital either the 4th or 5th of March to get an updated MRI. He had been experiencing seizures following his chemo treatments that had impacted his left side so he was not able to walk real well so they were moving him through the hospital in a wheel chair. After the MRI they were helping him get back in the wheel chair and ended up dislocating his left hip. This is the same hip he had replaced 9 years ago. They rushed him to the ER and pop-ed his hip back in but now Pam couldn’t take him home because he could not walk at all. He spent several days in the hospital waiting for rehab nurses to evaluate him and determine the next course of action to rehab his hip… The following Monday, they dislocated his hip again moving him from the bathroom to his bed. They have since moved him by ambulance to another hospital where he had his hip replacement 9 years ago to evaluate whether he needed surgery to repair the hip. This hospital also has an excellent neurology department and they agreed to evaluate his cancer. On Thursday they decided to go ahead and surgically repair his hip. Without this he would be bed ridden for his remaining days. On Friday they put a screen in an artery close to the groin area to minimize the risk of a clot going to his heart. The surgery was scheduled for Monday. He came through the surgery fine but now there are other problems. On Saturday the neurologist did a 3 1/2 hour MRI that revealed the tumor has grown and spread to his brain stem. This all has happened since the last MRI 11 days ago that had only indicated that the tumor had grown. This is a very aggressive form of cancer. Pam met with Bob’s oncology doctor yesterday to discuss his options. The neurologist wants to perform another gamma knife (high dose radiation treatment) immediately to try and slow down the cancer but his oncologist was against it. By yesterday Bob had lost feeling along his left side meaning he can’t walk. He decided to go ahead and have the gamma knife this morning anyway but this will likely be his last treatment. He can’t take anymore chemo. His two sons that are going to school out of town all came in for the weekend and were with their dad as well as the youngest son that is still at home. Robert the oldest went back to school and the middle son is staying with Pam to give her strength during the gamma knife treatment this morning.
Several of you have mentioned trying to get up to see Bob. He will likely be in the hospital for a few days, beyond that I don’t know where he will be. He is in the Neurological and Orthopedic Institute in Chicago at 4501 N. Winchester Ave, Chicago, IL 60640
Bob is exhausted not to mention the pain and discomfort of all the various medical procedures. His hope and goal is to make it to May to have his middle son graduate from high school (he is in a military high school in Camden, SC).
I was suppose to see him yesterday up in Chicago in conjunction with a business meeting but my client cancelled the meeting late last week so I’m going to try and get up there the second week in April. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers and I’ll try and send you and update as I get them from Pam.