CROSS POSTED FROM NY BOARD

Sherm8404 is going under the knife tomorrow for surgery to remove a Chondrosarcoma linking his right ribs and his T5 vertebrae. In case you don't know what it is, its a bony form of cancer that grew outward from his T5 and fused itself to his rib. The procedure will remove that vertebrae and part of the rib for sure.

I just want to make sure that everyone starts saying their prayers for John, his wife Jane and their three children. This is a delicate procedure, which has possible impotency implications. (Not really, but I told him that anyway!) John's spirits are as high as ever and I know he'll be fine, but a bit of prayer and good vibes never hurt anyone.

The hospital is Sloan-Kettering  in Manhattan, which means he'll be in the BEST possible hands with the best this country has to offer!


Good luck BREAK A RIB JOHN! And while you're at it, BREAK A VERTABRAE ALSO!!!

If anyone needs additional info, please contact me via IM. Wave will also be monitoring his situation throughout the day.

EDIT: In case you guys don't know him well, he's an EMT and a Marine Medic.  He previously donated blood to a member who had lost significant amounts of blood during an operation a year or two ago and is THE MOST stand up guy I know.  This man is a saint and a great friend!

Prayers sent.  Best of luck.  Please update as events warrant.


MSK is a good place for that type of problem.

Prayers are sent for John and his family.  

Thoughts for a quick & complete recovery.

SK is top notch.

Bump and prayers sent!

Quoted: Bump and prayers sent!

Good luck to him, I'm confident he's gonna get through fine.

So he's a corpsman medic?

Quoted: Good luck to him, I'm confident he's gonna get through fine. So he's a corpsman medic?

Yup.  Tough SOB.

For you guys who understand....he was also a Ground Zero worker and received his "Hero" honors from the site.  He's a patriot and a good person to the core.

Prayers sent!!  Get well soon John!  


ETA: I think I met him at the original BRC back in 2002.

Sent.

prayers sent

Done

Prayers sent.

Bump for morning people.  He's got an hour left before surgery.  

Prayers sent.

I just spoke with John's wife, she said that the last update she's received was at 7:45pm today. The surgery started late by about two hours (11am) and they're expecting that at 12am tonight she'll have another update. However, as I was on the phone with her, she was paged...maybe by the hospital.

The update she received was that the spinal orthopedic specialist was with John from 4-5 hours at which point the nuerologists took over. There was apparently an issue at that point which necessitated the cardio thoracic guys to take over for a bit. This isn't a good thing, but it may just have been to look at his condition or to see that his anesthesia was ok....I'm speculating here though. All I know is that they weren't supposed to be needed. They also finished up with operating from the back and have flipped him and are now operating from the front. I think this means that the vertebrae and ribs have been cut and the final frontal cuts are coming soon. Then they'll pull some bone off of his hips to use for the bone graft. Apparently they took bone from both the disk above AND below the "infected" disk, so they'll be replacing that as well as adding the prosthetic disk, or whatever its called.

Anyway, Jane is doing very well, she sounded like John last night on the phone, except that she was worried about the cardio guys coming in. Its significant enough that they called her to tell her about it....but with no further details.

I'd volunteer her number, but I think one of us calling for updates is enough to drive her crazy. She seems very edgy with calls and pages, so I think its better to leave her alone. She seems very strong, I guess she'd have to be while married to John!

Massive get well mojo sent...!

Keepin those positive thoughts comin'...

Prayers sent.

May God be with him tonight.

shot out... shot over

prayer down range

Dram out

Our Father, who art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy Name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
As we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory,
for ever and ever.
Amen.

Prayer sent.

I called his wife at 12:15 last night, when she told me she'd have an update. She didn't pick up the phone, so either she'd just gotten some great news and was passed out in bed already or waiting for the call still. I think its too early to call now, but I will as soon as I get to work.