How On Earth Did I End Up Like This?

Hey there!  My name is Perry and I've returned to this blog after a three year absence.  A lot has happened to me during that time, much of it bad.  At the time I put this blog into storage, I was working as a security officer at Cooper Lighting in Peachtree City, Georgia.  Thanks to medical expenses resulting from a bout with kidney cancer in 2008, I was forced to move in with my father in Newnan, Georgia.

In July 2014, my father was diagnosed with both Alzheimers Disease and cancer.  He went downhill rapidly, and sadly passed away in December at age 81.  I was forced to move from his home, but was fortunate enough (blessed) move in with two good friends.  I was planning to get my own place by spring 2015, but fate interveined in February when I suffered a severe fall at work, which it turned out was caused by a large, aggressive cancer in my left thigh (Osteosarcoma).

I knew there was something going on in my leg; severe swelling and pain had begun a few weeks earlier, but was believed by my doctors to be result of a pulled or torn thigh muscle.  After the fall on February 15, 2015, I was transported to Newnan Piedmont then several days later to Emory hospital where I was diagnosed with cancer.  My Oncologist made the decision to try chemotherapy to shrink the tumor and save my leg.  The chemo made me sick, and caused my hair to fall out, but did nothing to stop the cancer, which actually grew during the two rounds of intense chemotherapy.

On May 8th, the decision was made to amputate my left leg below the hip joint to remove the tumor and (hopefully) save my life.  My leg was amputated on May 11th at Midtown Emory hospital in Atlanta, Georgia.  I spent two days in ICU but they started me working with physical therapy only three days later.  I was so weak it took two physical therapists to get me off the hospital bed.  I was transferred to Emory Rehabilitation hospital in late May, then to Emory's Budd Terrace rehab/ nursing center in mid-June.

I progresssed rapidly, and by early July could easily stand and transfer from my wheelchair to bed, chairs, and toilet.  Here is a photo of my two therapists Everett and Oscar taken in July.  I had hoped to relocate to Portland, Oregon (where my younger sister lives), but unfortunately that wasn't possible, so I agreed to a transfer from Budd Terrace to a small nursing center in Austell, Georgia, where I currently reside.  I'm hopeful of getting into an Assisted Living home soon, and eventually into my own place.  I was approved for full disability in November, but there are few affordable places available.  Just keeping my fingers crossed and praying something good will come my way!