Surgery: check!

Hello everyone! This is Hannah. One of my dad's biggest requests was to update everyone on the blog. As we learned from when I was sick, people like to be updated on progress and if we forget to update, people assume the worst.

Surgery went as well as they hoped it would. They made the incision at 8:56 yesterday morning and he was out sometime around 4 in the afternoon. Jason, our friend and anesthesiologist, was so helpful and texted my mom updates throughout the whole thing. Here's all the information I gathered from the doctors: They got the tumor, along with 4 ribs and the cartilage in the lining of his sternum. The margins are wide and clear (meaning the area around the tumor, so there is a pretty big hole in his chest now). They had to take skin and muscle from his abdomen and rotated the muscle up from his abdomen to his chest to cover where the tumor was. They reconstructed his abdomen with a mesh. It was a long surgery and will be an even longer recovery. They think they got all of the tumor! Yay!

We got to see him after surgery in the ICU, two at a time, and it was weird seeing my dad like that. The tubes and wires coming out of him weren't alarming for me at all. My dad does not drink, so I have never even seen him a little tipsy. Obviously he was heavily medicated, so he was a little loopy. His eyes were looking all over the place and even going a little cross-eyed. That's what was strange. Seeing my dad not totally "with it."

He had a good night, got a little nauseous but is better now. Hopefully in a few hours he will be transferred out of ICU and into his regular room.

Keep the prayers coming! It's going to be a painful recovery, but nothing us Cobley's can't handle. The support and love we feel is overwhelming.

T Minus 36 hours

Edited by Sharon and Hannah via phone from Zin Burger

 Sharon and Hannah are at the movies (they needed to get out of the house), Jessie is at the ASU/USC game, and of course Sarah is in California with final wedding prep.

I am sitting here alone with my thoughts, watching my UCLA Bruins beating the U of A.  So what better time to update then now?

I was diagnosed 3 weeks ago, and these weeks have been packed with activities.  Wedding update: the Framily has been working overtime and all major projects are done with the dance floor deck was finished today.  Bring on the Taco truck, we are ready for the reception!

When Hannah was diagnosed we learned as a family that life goes on.  Sometimes we want to make it stop or slow down, but that is not the case.  Life goes on, we go to work, and go through the normal functions of life.  All the while the elephant in the room of cancer is always around.

The last three weeks for me have been very long.  I really just want to get this done.  I know that it is a process.  Doctors schedules need to be coordinated and tests need to be done.  All the while I sit and wait, which is not something that I am good at.  To be honest, yesterday was the first "bad" day that I have had.  How did it manifest itself?  I was impatient with people! They were just not moving fast enough for me.  After about an hour, I realized what was going on, and told myself to knock it off.  It helped that the Framily was there for dinner.

I can honestly say that I am good to go.  I am not scared or concerned about the actual surgery.  As a 56 year old man, there are medical concerns about being under for as long as I will be.  That being said, the anesthesiologist Dr J, who is a friend of ours, sent us two texts this week.  The first one was that if he had to have the same surgery himself he would pick the surgeons that are performing my procedure.  Here is the second text: 

"I just swung through the pats office and looked over his labs and EKG and chart. Everything looks pristine and I gave it my blessing too.  Looks like you guys are all tee'd up and just need to relax, have a nice weekend, and show up Monday :-) Please tell me if you have any questions"

So medically we are set.

SCORE UPDATE:  UCLA 42 UofA 14 at the half.  Go Bruins!!

Do I have concerns? Yes. My major concern is infection.  Obviously that would be bad.  We will know in the first 24 to 48 hours if it is an issue, so please pray for that.

My other concern is my family.  I am not excited about them having to sit around in a waiting room for 8 or more hours.  I know that I would go crazy sitting around.  Pray that God comforts them.

Again, we are overwhelmed with the support.  There are so many families that have to face this dreaded disease without support.  I can not imagine that, but it is a reality.

The Cobley's are blessed.

God is good.

Eucaristia

The Dream Team

PROOFED by Jessie Cobley

I will start off with a writers note.  I have been considered the blogger of not only this blog, but also hannahcobley.blogspot.com, or more commonly known as hannimaltheanimal.  Truth be known, there was a lot of family editing throughout.   That editing was not recognized.  Well I want to do that now.  With my upcoming surgery, I may be typing things that don't make sense (at least I will blame it on the drugs) so editing will be necessary.  I want to turn this into a family blog.  From this point on, the family blogger will identify themselves as the writer in the title or opening line.  If I write it and it needs to be edited/proofed,  I want you guys to know what Cobley edited it.

That being said,  the DREAM TEAM of surgeons is finalized, and the surgery date has been set.  Dr. F is the lead surgeon, Dr. W is the thoracic surgeon, and Dr. T is the plastic surgeon.  They all have very specific jobs, and will be "tagging" the next one in when it is their turn.

Over the last week or so, the details and the order of the surgery have been finalized... Here are the details.  After the initial incisions, Dr. W will cut a circle in my rib cage and cartilage in a circle about the size of a coffee can.  That circle of tissue which will contain the tumor will be popped out of my chest like a cork on a wine bottle.  Dr. W will then be tagged out by Dr. F.  Dr. W is done, he can hit the showers.

Dr. F will then place the robo skeleton in.  While not as elaborate ate the picture above, I will be having titanium ribs placed in my body.  Kinda cool, sort of super hero like.

Dr. F and Dr. W will take about 3.5 to 4 hours to finish their part of the procedure.

In steps Dr. T, specializing in breast reconstruction, not cosmetic, but fixing those that have gone bad.  While I do not have breast cancer (please hold the jokes) this part of the surgery is very similar to what a breast cancer patient has done.

When Dr. T was explaining this to me, it was obvious that the Dr. T was concerned with how I felt about scarring.  The scarring can be bad, and obvious.  The scar on my chest will look like a football (very fitting I think).  The tissue that is used for the muscle and skin graft will come from either my back or my stomach.  I told them I prefer the stomach, and to lypo me while down there.  If more skin is needed that will come from my side.

All that being said, total surgery time will be about 8 hours.  Long time for my family and friends to be sitting around waiting, but since I will be asleep, I will not care.

The date of the surgery is September 28.

The last several days have been hard.  The waiting... I am not scared or worried.  I just want to get on with it.  I have felt like an athlete that is ready to go, and keeps having the start of the game postponed.

Now that it is scheduled, I am good to go.  The Cobley's are good to go... God is good and in control, lets get this done so we can move on to Sarah and Seth's wedding in October.

Eucaristia

Hurry up and wait!!

Hi All.... so, here is an update.  I had a PET scan on Friday; which was awesome.  They put radioactive isotopes in me through an IV - third one of the week - which is more than I've had in my life, sorry Hannah. I actually had to sign a paper that said I would not interact with children under 12 because I was radioactive!  Really?  I felt like laying in the garden so that my radioactivity would help grow the veggies.  Geiger counters throughout Phoenix were going off.

So the waiting game began.  I love 3 day weekends.

When we were told that my physical ability would be limited for a time after the surgery, some became concerned about Sarah and Seth's wedding reception being in our backyard because I would not be able to get the yard ready.  It was even suggested that we try to find another location.  I appreciate the concern, but that was not gonna happen.  My daughter wants her reception in our backyard, then that is what will happen.  Friends to the rescue.  Sharon and team pulled out the stops... Trimming, edging, weeding, painting, and footers for a deck put in.  Our support group is AMAZING.  We call them framily, because they truly are friends that are family.

During the weekend I struggled with every pain that I felt in my body.  I am feeling pain in my chest where the tumor is as it is actually destroying my ribs, but all weekend every pain became another tumor location.  Not gonna lie, hard weekend mentally.

So today we met with the thoracic surgeon.   For you that are old enough to remember MASH, that is the "chest cutter".  We like him.  Very dry sense of humor, told us that he would stop by Home Depot to pick up the saws that are needed for the surgery and that he had You Tubed it, did I mention that we like him?  So we were good to go.

He told us that he was studying my labs over weekend, so we immediatly asked him about the PET scan results.... tick tock tick tock... seemed like forever.  No other tumors!!!! Life is good.

From here I meet with the plastic surgeon on Thursday about the muscle graph, then we schedule the actual surgery.  I explained the sense of urgency with the upcoming wedding so we are on a fast track.

All that being said, I am good. The Cobley's are good, we just wanna get on with it.  Once again I am learning patience knowing that God is in control, I am not, and I have to step aside.  There are times I step aside slowly, reluctantly, but I still step aside.

Eucaristia

Here we go again!

So here I sit in front of the computer screen for what seems like hours trying to figure out how to start this post.  I feel no great inspiration.  It's hard to figure out how or what I want to say. Here goes...

My name is Craig Cobley.  I am 56 years old, and I found out a few days ago that I have cancer. There I said it, lets move forward

As many of you know, 4 years ago, our youngest daughter, Hannah was diagnosed with a very rare form of leukemia.  So rare in fact, that Phoenix Children's Hospital had not had a case for 7 years prior to her diagnosis and none since.

Hannah is cured, she beat cancer!  My family does not have a history of cancer (maybe now we do) The Cobley's die of heart attacks. The ticker goes, and we pass.

A few months ago, I am lying on my back in bed, hands on my chest and I feel a lump. It's about the size of an Oreo cookie.   This can not be normal, and of course being a man, I chose to ignore it. I had an injury to my elbow and had to see the team Doc, and I asked him what he thought, his first response was that it was a cyst or lypoma and that it should be looked at. I head to my dermatologist who said the same thing but that it was too big (yikes) for him to diagnose. Off I went to a general surgeon. His response was a Desmoid tumor which is a benign tumor that can be easily removed. Great lets get after it! Not so fast...MRI and then CT scan and biopsy and then tissue samples sent off to University of Miami for a second opinion. This is not good.  Turns out that I have a Chondrosarcoma - a rare form of cancer that attacks cartilage and surrounding tissue. I had a PET scan on Friday to make sure there are no other tumors (this cancer does not spread that way so it is highly unlikely that it has spread).  Appointment with the thoracic surgeon on Tuesday afternoon because of course they will have to remove part of my sternum and take a couple of ribs (whats 2 more). Plastic surgeon will have to join the party because i won't have enough muscle tissue to cover the mesh that will protect my lung since I will not have part of my sternum. It's gonna be a party.

This type of cancer does not respond well to chemo and radiation so we just need to get it out. Maybe a little radiation on the back end depending on what the margins look like after surgery. The prognosis is good, and its just gonna hurt like crazy.

In the same way that I asked God how Hannah's cancer would further His Kingdom.  I am asking the same thing now.  God, how will this further your Kingdom.  That is my focus.  Things happen for a reason, this is not random.

I will sign this blog same way that I signed off on Hannah's when following her fight.

Our English language does not have the depth we have been looking for when we say "thank you."  Pastor Steve suggested this Greek word for us.   Eucaristia which translates to the soul being filled with grace, a sign of unity or a bond of charity.  While this just scratches the surface, it is the word we will use.

Eucaristia, may God bless you the way that He has blessed us.