Cliff Long's Health Problem

From Lyn Long (June 2, 1995)

Dear friends,

You may already know that your friend, Cliff, suffered a cervical vertebra fracture several weeks ago. We think it was while he was playing squash. He hadn't played in awhile & was playing very hard. For the first 2 weeks he was treated for muscle spasms! They were so bad the 13th that we went to the E. R. The doctor there ordered back/neck xrays. Our MD got the radiologist's report on Tues. May 16, learned of the serious problem and from there, things happened fast. Cliff was hospitalized at Wood Co. Hospital Tues. afternoon, went by ambulance to St. Luke's in Maumee at 11 p.m, was seen by a surgeon at 2 a.m. Wed. who rearranged his schedule and began surgery at 11 a.m. & it lasted til 6 p.m. He removed as much of the malignant tumors in 2 areas of the spine as he could, did a bone graft & reinforced it with a metal plate & screws. Cliff has 2 incisions plus the area of hip where the bone graft was done. He's wearing an erector set type "halo" attached to his head with rods front and back attached to a steel "jacket" to keep his neck in position while the bone graft becomes firm. He'll wear it for at least 8 weeks. Cancer in the spine was metastasis; the primary diagnosis is multiple myeloma for which he'll receive chemotherapy when the radiation treatments end.

Some numbness & tingling resulting from the compression of his spinal cord remain in his fingers & feet but with so many praying for him, hopefully he'll make a full recovery along that line.

All 4 of our kids were here before the surgery ended and have been so supportive. We filled a hospital room so it was fortunate that he had no roommate most of the time he was a patient. The staff was mostly wonderful and he got good care & started physical therapy and was advised by an occupational therapist before heading home. Cliff was marked for radiation treatment on his spine before coming home & can get his treatments locally & that's a big help. He came home Wednesday & we put a hospital bed in the dining room. The fellow who built our house came over & put up bannisters on both sets of stairs which greatly increased Cliff's mobility. Math colleagues came Sat. to attach his computer from school so Cliff's connected with the global community! Cliff's currently using a walker & has found ways to become as independent as possible. He finds it uncomfortable to have his head in a fixed position all the time! He's happy to have the option to sleep in his own bed now &, when he gets uncomfortable in one position, can move to another spot.

Andy just finished his teaching at Oshkosh, WI & heads back there today. His family has school til early June and will then join us here for the summer. The two guys will enjoy spending some weeks together on problems of mutual interest.

Thad & Debbie live here & will be available too. Mark & Mindy are 30 mi. away. Their 2nd is due in Oct. so that's exciting. They're taking classes here this summer & Mindy will be finishing up her master's degree. We'll enjoy having Alexis with us sometimes when they're in class. Steve's family will be up from Cinci often. Friends have been wonderfully supportive too.

Cliff's plans to go to Mississippi with the mission group from church got abruptly changed as did his hope to put up the trim on the Bloomdale Habitat for Humanity house. We hope he'll be out of his halo in the minimum time but will still plan to go to the family reunion in Brown Co., Indiana in mid July and then off to an Alaskan cruise from July 31- August 12.