Even more info on current detour
My time at the hospital was spent successfully. The surgeons were able to perform the operation with no problems. Everyone (with the glaring exception of cafeteria lady who surely escaped a low budget horror film. "Can I come in," she would screech as she was halfway across the room with her inedible tray of "food") was extremely nice. The nurses were pretty, attentive, and fun to talk to. The doctors came in and answered all of my questions, and seemed sorry that they had to cause me such intense pain. I didn't have any setbacks in my healiing, so I was able to leave on Sunday.
When the surgeon told me that I was going to be able to head home he gave me a dose of good news/bad news as well. The biopsies from the tumor show that it had spread further than would be optimal. That's the bad news. The good news is that the cancer did not spread to the lymph nodes. As he said, that's when things get nasty. But, because the tumor had gotten to a certain size he cannot be certain that he got all of the bad cells out with the surgery. He is presenting my tumor to a Tumor Board which will give me recommendations as far as whether I will get radiation, or chemotherapy or a combination of both. As a preventitive measure as much as anything else. I will know more about this later in the month. I won't be able to even start until I have healed up from the surgery.
Currently, I am still in some pain but feeling a lot better each day. I was a little bit down on Friday that I wasn't able to walk around without pain or discomfort. But, one of my nurses (the prettiest one) told me that usually 5 days after major surgery you aren't doing those things. That helped.
Thanks for the cards, good thoughts, prayers, emails, phone calls and especially for the big screen tvs. They all mean a lot to me.
I feel confident that this is all going to go smoothly without any difficulty. I have no doubt that I will be back in Santa Barbara enjoying my hikes and the ocean by the summer of 2009.
When the surgeon told me that I was going to be able to head home he gave me a dose of good news/bad news as well. The biopsies from the tumor show that it had spread further than would be optimal. That's the bad news. The good news is that the cancer did not spread to the lymph nodes. As he said, that's when things get nasty. But, because the tumor had gotten to a certain size he cannot be certain that he got all of the bad cells out with the surgery. He is presenting my tumor to a Tumor Board which will give me recommendations as far as whether I will get radiation, or chemotherapy or a combination of both. As a preventitive measure as much as anything else. I will know more about this later in the month. I won't be able to even start until I have healed up from the surgery.
Currently, I am still in some pain but feeling a lot better each day. I was a little bit down on Friday that I wasn't able to walk around without pain or discomfort. But, one of my nurses (the prettiest one) told me that usually 5 days after major surgery you aren't doing those things. That helped.
Thanks for the cards, good thoughts, prayers, emails, phone calls and especially for the big screen tvs. They all mean a lot to me.
I feel confident that this is all going to go smoothly without any difficulty. I have no doubt that I will be back in Santa Barbara enjoying my hikes and the ocean by the summer of 2009.