Craniotomy #4

Okay, this is Angie, so bare with me. I'm a bit tired, but am hoping this will all make sense.

To start, Mike wants to say he is sorry for the lack of updates since March.

Everything was going great, expect for a minor bone pain on the temporal area, right by his eye...we were starting to settle back into our "new normal". Mike has been training like mad and was preparing for the Leavenworth, WA half-marathon in October.

This bone pain was checked at his 3 month appointment and nothing was found. The MD said it was just still healing, some post surgical changes. So, he kept dealing with it, hoping it would go away. Thursday or Friday of last week he was having enough pain that he asked for some Ibuprofen. Okay, so that sounds minor to most, but for those of you that know Mike, taking even and Ibuprofen is a "sin"! Well, along came Sunday, he had such a bad headache, with some slight swelling, that he decided it was time to call the CA MD. They said it was unlikely that it was anything too serious since he had no symptoms...hmm...where have we heard that before? "Oh, nothing to be worried about", says Mike, "off for my 12 mile run". He had a miserable run. Chalked it up to lack of sleep and possibly, not enough to drink. Later that day we spent the afternoon downtown with my brother's family and his forehead and eye became swollen. By the time we got home he wasn't feeling good at all. He looked like he was in a boxing match--and he didn't win! (I'll try to post pics later--got to figure that out again :))

Well, Monday rolls around and we had another big day planned to see the "sights" of D.C. But, Mike woke up with his entire right eye swollen shut and the swelling was half way down his face (again, picture later). Needless to say Mike KNEW something was wrong. Made an appointment at the MD for that afternoon... As suspected his GP (general practioner) could do nothing, so up to National Navy Medical Center's ER. Some labs, a CT, LOTS of waiting, an MRI, neurosurgery consult with Walter Reed Medical Center, they determined that Mike had osteomyelitis. At about 4am...they FINALLY admitted him to the hospital to start massive IV antibiotics. There were several questions still to be answered... is the bone (in the forehead) dead, if not will the antibiotics save it? Did the infection cross the dura into the brain tissue?

Well, my brother and I went home to catch some zzz's, not knowing what to expect. Mike was NOT optimistic about this. Finally home at 5am, and asleep by 530 or 6, my phone rang at 855am...it was Mike stating that the head of neurosurgery at Walter Reed Medical Center reviewed his case and they were doing surgery immediately. My heart sank, I was hoping he'd just have to do antibiotics. He said they'd wait on me to get there..."I'm thinking, what, is this a dream?" I hop in the shower to wake myself up, grab my brother and off we go in rush hour traffic on I-495 north. I'm mad, scared and nervous...and I-495 was a parking lot. Thank the good Lord my brother was with me. 930am and only to I-66 (those of you who know the area, feel my pain)..Mike calls..they are doing surgery at 10..I thought, "no way I'm gonna make it"...Mike trys to stall and I push a little harder through traffic. Finally I get north of Tyson's Corner and "free" road. I get there 1015 am and rush into Mike's room where we both share our feelings, crying and then get strong for one another. 1040 and off he goes...

The MD said that he can't save the bone and removing it is the best thing to avoid further infection. This means that Mike will not have a forehead bone for 6-8 mo. He will be in the hospital for the rest of the week getting heavy antibiotics while the Infectious Disease MD's figure out what is growing. Once that is determined and he heals from the surgery he will come home with a pic-line so that we can do more specific IV antibiotics at home for 6-8 weeks. He will be off work for 4-6 wks and, I assume, no running for 8 months, or more. He will wear a helmet to protect his head from any head trauma. Once the infection is gone for good they will put in a titanium plate.

The infection could be a delayed onset from surgery or, before the bones fused back together Mike could have gotten dust in his eye, nose or breathed in something that caused this. It's hard to tell and at this point not worth worrying about.

The surgery went smoothly, he did well. The infection was localized, and did not cross the Dura. I saw him in the ICU briefly where he was quite the comic as usual. Good to see though.

I don't know much more about his treatment/care/post-op process at this time. All I know is that he made it through and has all his functions! Thank God!!

Thank you all for your prayers! We love you all...