Read Online Tragedy's Gift: Surviving Cancer by Kevin Sharp, Jeanne Gere - Free Book Online
Authors: Kevin Sharp, Jeanne Gere
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my left upper chest area.
Anyone who has spent an extended amount of time in the hospital knows first hand that veins and arteries can only withstand so much abuse before they just stop working.
This port worked like an outlet for the treatments or emergency drugs that were necessary for my hospital visits. The procedure to administer it was simple enough - a small incision and a line running directly into my artery. This procedure made it easy for nurses or doctors to “plug in” directly to my bloodstream without having to find a vein (which after months of treatments would have been impossible.)
The port proved to be very successful during my 20 months of treatment. I experienced less pain because of it.
Now that I was in remission, the doctors felt that I no longer needed the port and scheduled my visit to have it removed. The original incision would have to be reopened and the line gently pulled out of my artery.
As I lay motionless on the table, the line was being pulled out when it suddenly broke off and flipped into my heart. Now the situation was a bit different. If the line moved at all in any direction it could kill me. My simple procedure had turned into emergency, life-saving surgery. It was necessary for me to be awake during the entire thing so I just prepared myself for what was coming next.
I was assured that it would be quick and easy. By inserting a wire into my groin area and following the arterial path to my heart, the doctor could hook the tube and pull it free. Everything was going as planned until it was time to pull the tube out. After being inside my chest for so long, the tube actually grew attached to the artery and was stuck.
The plan was to pull very hard and release it. With every tug, the pain was becoming more and more intense. One last tug was all it took for the tube to loosen and flip even further into my heart. With that, monitor alarms, panic and expressions of fear took over the room. I was gripped with pain and felt myself slipping into unconsciousness. Just at that point, the doctor slapped me very hard across the face in an attempt to keep me awake. I was shocked, in pain and beyond fearful.
I remember more doctors running into the room, and as I drifted in and out of awareness, I felt as though my spirit was leaving my body and watching the entire scenario from above myself on the table.
I was rushed by ambulance to a cardiac hospital and I heard things being said like, “We will have to crack his chest open,” and “I can’t lose this one.” In my mind I was thinking that he better not lose me. I have come too far to lose the battle in such a crazy way. As we got to the hospital, I heard someone say that he was going to give the arterial wire one more shot because this guy was too young to have his chest opened. At that point I passed out.
When I woke up it was over. I didn’t have to have open-heart surgery after all. The last shot at the wire had worked.
It wasn’t easy finding a bright spot in that situation, but I remember my first thought was how great it was that I didn’t have a huge scar running the length of my chest.
This situation was one more piece of evidence that I had more to accomplish in my life and that I was being spared. I was curious to find out why.
Rebuilding a Body and Soul
The first step to my destiny was to repair my leg as best as it could be. I couldn't put on my own sock or shoe; sit in the back seat of a car or anything else that required bending my knee. The radiation had basically cooked the muscle in my leg until it would no longer stretch. I needed two surgeries and a painful two-week stretching treatment to help the process. I endured them with the hope of regaining some sort of normalcy in my very abnormal life. I went through another fight to repair the effects of cancer and I again took home the victory.
Although I won back the use of my leg, something was still
Anyone who has spent an extended amount of time in the hospital knows first hand that veins and arteries can only withstand so much abuse before they just stop working.
This port worked like an outlet for the treatments or emergency drugs that were necessary for my hospital visits. The procedure to administer it was simple enough - a small incision and a line running directly into my artery. This procedure made it easy for nurses or doctors to “plug in” directly to my bloodstream without having to find a vein (which after months of treatments would have been impossible.)
The port proved to be very successful during my 20 months of treatment. I experienced less pain because of it.
Now that I was in remission, the doctors felt that I no longer needed the port and scheduled my visit to have it removed. The original incision would have to be reopened and the line gently pulled out of my artery.
As I lay motionless on the table, the line was being pulled out when it suddenly broke off and flipped into my heart. Now the situation was a bit different. If the line moved at all in any direction it could kill me. My simple procedure had turned into emergency, life-saving surgery. It was necessary for me to be awake during the entire thing so I just prepared myself for what was coming next.
I was assured that it would be quick and easy. By inserting a wire into my groin area and following the arterial path to my heart, the doctor could hook the tube and pull it free. Everything was going as planned until it was time to pull the tube out. After being inside my chest for so long, the tube actually grew attached to the artery and was stuck.
The plan was to pull very hard and release it. With every tug, the pain was becoming more and more intense. One last tug was all it took for the tube to loosen and flip even further into my heart. With that, monitor alarms, panic and expressions of fear took over the room. I was gripped with pain and felt myself slipping into unconsciousness. Just at that point, the doctor slapped me very hard across the face in an attempt to keep me awake. I was shocked, in pain and beyond fearful.
I remember more doctors running into the room, and as I drifted in and out of awareness, I felt as though my spirit was leaving my body and watching the entire scenario from above myself on the table.
I was rushed by ambulance to a cardiac hospital and I heard things being said like, “We will have to crack his chest open,” and “I can’t lose this one.” In my mind I was thinking that he better not lose me. I have come too far to lose the battle in such a crazy way. As we got to the hospital, I heard someone say that he was going to give the arterial wire one more shot because this guy was too young to have his chest opened. At that point I passed out.
When I woke up it was over. I didn’t have to have open-heart surgery after all. The last shot at the wire had worked.
It wasn’t easy finding a bright spot in that situation, but I remember my first thought was how great it was that I didn’t have a huge scar running the length of my chest.
This situation was one more piece of evidence that I had more to accomplish in my life and that I was being spared. I was curious to find out why.
Rebuilding a Body and Soul
The first step to my destiny was to repair my leg as best as it could be. I couldn't put on my own sock or shoe; sit in the back seat of a car or anything else that required bending my knee. The radiation had basically cooked the muscle in my leg until it would no longer stretch. I needed two surgeries and a painful two-week stretching treatment to help the process. I endured them with the hope of regaining some sort of normalcy in my very abnormal life. I went through another fight to repair the effects of cancer and I again took home the victory.
Although I won back the use of my leg, something was still
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