leave a comment if you want to name my surgical team. right now they are simply Team T because both of their names begin with the letter T.
just to recap...one is an obgyn onc surgeon and the other is a renal onc surgeon. the renal onc is dr. cold fish and the obgyn onc is simply dr T, but he has a better bedside manner than dr. cold fish. both are honorary members of team bean saver.
and no, "Surgical Nut Zippers" is not an option.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
It's alive....IT'S ALIVE!!!!!!
i think that's the line from Frankenstein. anyway, the pre-op appointment. well, it wasn't exactly what i was expecting, but each time i switch to a new specialist, that is pretty much par...they say they have talked to each other, but usually by the time i see the next one, it is 2 weeks and 100+ patients later and they don't remember shit. this time was no different. i was under the impression from dr doom that the surgeon, whom i will refer to as dr. cold fish, considered the kidney operable now...thus the pre-op appt. silly me to assume that having a pre-op appt. meant you were a candidate for oh, i dont know, an operation?!!
once i got in to see dr. cold fish, he began by going over my scan and saying that the kidney was still not "ideally" operable. he said that the mass surrounding the vein and artery that connect the kidney to the aorta had significantly been reduced, but there was still approx. 2cm of cancerous "stuff" surrounding it and he would not know if it was possible to get the kidney out until he was in. he was reluctant to consider surgery at that point and we all kind of looked around at each other like "wtf". then he called dr doom and after 10 minutes of very big dr. words and debate of a couple options, he decided to move forward. basically, dr doom is concerned that the effectiveness of the sutent has almost run its course and that if we are going to attempt to get the kidney out, now is the time...before my progress begins to reverse. he also said that my obgyn onc surgeon (dr. T) is fairly certain that the ovary is cystic in nature and just needs to come on out. dr. cold fish said "that thing is huge...it's like you're pregnant." i said: "yeah, pregnant with a period." he's right, that thing sticks out like a big ole grapefruit..i will be happy to get that out.
so, since they want to get the enlarged ovary out of me anyway and there is only a small window to do surgery now since theoretically i am near the end of the effectiveness of the sutent, he is considering me an emergency case, adding a day of surgery to his already booked month of march and working on getting me scheduled for emergency open surgery on march 17th. (maybe if i tell everyone i am irish i'll get lots of extra stuff for st. patty's day.) he is going to reschedule all of his appointments and said, with authority: "I will get OR time." as of today, this date is still tentative because they don't have dr. T on board yet, but they wanted to let me know what day they are shooting for. that said, there will be an update to confirm all of the details once i have them...date, time, location, etc.
surgery details: (turn away if you are sensitive to gore...parental guidance is advised)
they will have to cut me from sternum to pelvis, wide the hell open. dr. T will remove the ovary and then he will remain to assist dr. cold fish while he attempts to do his thang. together they are Team T. (nothing very original there...both of their names start with T)
A side note: originally, dr doom said dr cold fish would only be removing the kidney, that he would leave the surrounding lymph nodes, but as dr. cold fish was dictating in his little recorder thingy, he said "Radical Nephrectomy".....definition: Surgery to remove an entire kidney, nearby adrenal gland and lymph nodes, and other surrounding tissue.
surgery could be anywhere from 6 to 8+ hours from what i have read, but who knows. when they close me up, they will be using a "zipper" method...thats what dr. cold fish said into his little dictation recorder anyway. i looked this up and it is pretty cool. the link is below if you want to see....its not gross...its an illustration. sorry about the asian characters, some of the paragraphs are in english, so you can get the gist of it. i will be in the hospital for 4-6(?) days if there are no complications. the recovery period is approx. 6 weeks.
http://www.medizip.com.cn/prodprofile_fr.html
so, needless to say, i am going to be partying my ass of for the next two weeks....well, as much as i can without overdoing it. then, bring on the drugs...and dont hold back, bring on the GOOD ones...i dont want to feel a damn thing!
well team bean saver, that's about it for now. the next cancer chapter of my life is about to begin. live long and prosper! (that's a shout out to all my geek buds!)
once i got in to see dr. cold fish, he began by going over my scan and saying that the kidney was still not "ideally" operable. he said that the mass surrounding the vein and artery that connect the kidney to the aorta had significantly been reduced, but there was still approx. 2cm of cancerous "stuff" surrounding it and he would not know if it was possible to get the kidney out until he was in. he was reluctant to consider surgery at that point and we all kind of looked around at each other like "wtf". then he called dr doom and after 10 minutes of very big dr. words and debate of a couple options, he decided to move forward. basically, dr doom is concerned that the effectiveness of the sutent has almost run its course and that if we are going to attempt to get the kidney out, now is the time...before my progress begins to reverse. he also said that my obgyn onc surgeon (dr. T) is fairly certain that the ovary is cystic in nature and just needs to come on out. dr. cold fish said "that thing is huge...it's like you're pregnant." i said: "yeah, pregnant with a period." he's right, that thing sticks out like a big ole grapefruit..i will be happy to get that out.
so, since they want to get the enlarged ovary out of me anyway and there is only a small window to do surgery now since theoretically i am near the end of the effectiveness of the sutent, he is considering me an emergency case, adding a day of surgery to his already booked month of march and working on getting me scheduled for emergency open surgery on march 17th. (maybe if i tell everyone i am irish i'll get lots of extra stuff for st. patty's day.) he is going to reschedule all of his appointments and said, with authority: "I will get OR time." as of today, this date is still tentative because they don't have dr. T on board yet, but they wanted to let me know what day they are shooting for. that said, there will be an update to confirm all of the details once i have them...date, time, location, etc.
surgery details: (turn away if you are sensitive to gore...parental guidance is advised)
they will have to cut me from sternum to pelvis, wide the hell open. dr. T will remove the ovary and then he will remain to assist dr. cold fish while he attempts to do his thang. together they are Team T. (nothing very original there...both of their names start with T)
A side note: originally, dr doom said dr cold fish would only be removing the kidney, that he would leave the surrounding lymph nodes, but as dr. cold fish was dictating in his little recorder thingy, he said "Radical Nephrectomy".....definition: Surgery to remove an entire kidney, nearby adrenal gland and lymph nodes, and other surrounding tissue.
surgery could be anywhere from 6 to 8+ hours from what i have read, but who knows. when they close me up, they will be using a "zipper" method...thats what dr. cold fish said into his little dictation recorder anyway. i looked this up and it is pretty cool. the link is below if you want to see....its not gross...its an illustration. sorry about the asian characters, some of the paragraphs are in english, so you can get the gist of it. i will be in the hospital for 4-6(?) days if there are no complications. the recovery period is approx. 6 weeks.
http://www.medizip.com.cn/prodprofile_fr.html
so, needless to say, i am going to be partying my ass of for the next two weeks....well, as much as i can without overdoing it. then, bring on the drugs...and dont hold back, bring on the GOOD ones...i dont want to feel a damn thing!
well team bean saver, that's about it for now. the next cancer chapter of my life is about to begin. live long and prosper! (that's a shout out to all my geek buds!)
Monday, February 25, 2008
Have your people call my people and we'll work something out.
for those of you that have been checking my blog to see how the pre-op appointment went...i apologize for not updating sooner!!! Dr. T, my surgeon, was called into emergency surgery last week and they had to reschedule my pre-op appointment for this tues, feb 26th at 4:30. the good thing is that morning, he is meeting with several other doctors during a "small tumor and kidney conference" and they will be going over my scans, laying out/finalizing my surgery plan, etc.
so, i will try to update the blog in a more timely manner this time. sorry team bean saver!
so, i will try to update the blog in a more timely manner this time. sorry team bean saver!
Monday, February 18, 2008
The little engine that could...
i think i can, i think i can....i KNOW i can, I KNOW I CAN!!!!! The 3rd and final round of sutent worked...you can see the veins that connect the kidney to the aorta now. the cancer surrounding them has been reduced so much that you can see them! the surgeon can see them which means he can get the kidney out! i am no longer in the "inoperable" category. what seemed like an unachievable goal 5 months ago has been achieved...phase 1 accomplished. dr. doom is so pleased with my response to the sutent, he is all smiles each time i see him now. that just feels wonderful.
the pre-op appointment with my surgeon is this thurs., feb 21st. i am excited and scared at the same time. the earliest that surgery could be scheduled is the first week in march. they cannot operate until i have been off of the sutent for at least 1 month. my last pill was jan 30. i have no idea when they will actually schedule the surgery however, i only know the earliest possible date. i expect to find out when they want to schedule it at the thurs appointment. i'm also hoping to find out whether they can do laparoscopic or open surgery, now long i will be in surgery, the risks involved, length of hospital stay, recovery time, etc.
i'll update when i find out more...
surgery is phase 2 of my fight against cancer. dr. doom has more plans for me. after successful surgery and recovery, the plan is to start me on Interleukin-2. this will not be fun....not like any of the challenges i have had to face have been easy in this battle, but i think that the IL-2 will be the worst. IL-2 is another immunotherapy treatment that is administered intravenously over a 5 to 7 day period in ICU. it is the only treatment that has had any success as far as complete remission in RCC patients. it is a highly toxic treatment which is why i must be in ICU for the duration of the treatment. it is also the most aggressive approach, but my dr. has confidence in how my body will handle it since i was so tolerant of the sutent. the IL-2 treatment is so toxic, that they will only administer it a maximum of 3 times...and only if you show progress between each of the treatments. if you show no progress during the first treatment, your doctor may or may not choose to put you through a 2nd round. if you show no progress during the second, they will stop. also, it is so tough on your body, on your heart and lungs, that there is a 6 to 12 week "recover" period between each treatment. the immediate side effects should subside in just a week or so, but they will not put you through the next treatment until your body has had a chance to rest.
once again, the odds are stacked against me. the success rate percentages are low...15-20% partial or complete responses to the treatment with a 10 year survival rate of 12-15%. i LOVE proving the "odds" wrong. i've already proven the odds wrong once and damnit, i am going to do it again. i HAVE to...i have no other choice. i WILL prove them wrong. this is one time in my life when it has paid to be stubborn. ha!
here's a link to info on IL-2 if anyone is interested in more details.
http://cancerguide.org/rcc_il2hd.html
one good thing about the surgery date....the 15th is a saturday and last i checked, they don't schedule surgery on saturdays. so, it will not be during the ides of march. no need to fear the "impending doom" as poor Julius Caesar should have. Ha!
the pre-op appointment with my surgeon is this thurs., feb 21st. i am excited and scared at the same time. the earliest that surgery could be scheduled is the first week in march. they cannot operate until i have been off of the sutent for at least 1 month. my last pill was jan 30. i have no idea when they will actually schedule the surgery however, i only know the earliest possible date. i expect to find out when they want to schedule it at the thurs appointment. i'm also hoping to find out whether they can do laparoscopic or open surgery, now long i will be in surgery, the risks involved, length of hospital stay, recovery time, etc.
i'll update when i find out more...
surgery is phase 2 of my fight against cancer. dr. doom has more plans for me. after successful surgery and recovery, the plan is to start me on Interleukin-2. this will not be fun....not like any of the challenges i have had to face have been easy in this battle, but i think that the IL-2 will be the worst. IL-2 is another immunotherapy treatment that is administered intravenously over a 5 to 7 day period in ICU. it is the only treatment that has had any success as far as complete remission in RCC patients. it is a highly toxic treatment which is why i must be in ICU for the duration of the treatment. it is also the most aggressive approach, but my dr. has confidence in how my body will handle it since i was so tolerant of the sutent. the IL-2 treatment is so toxic, that they will only administer it a maximum of 3 times...and only if you show progress between each of the treatments. if you show no progress during the first treatment, your doctor may or may not choose to put you through a 2nd round. if you show no progress during the second, they will stop. also, it is so tough on your body, on your heart and lungs, that there is a 6 to 12 week "recover" period between each treatment. the immediate side effects should subside in just a week or so, but they will not put you through the next treatment until your body has had a chance to rest.
once again, the odds are stacked against me. the success rate percentages are low...15-20% partial or complete responses to the treatment with a 10 year survival rate of 12-15%. i LOVE proving the "odds" wrong. i've already proven the odds wrong once and damnit, i am going to do it again. i HAVE to...i have no other choice. i WILL prove them wrong. this is one time in my life when it has paid to be stubborn. ha!
here's a link to info on IL-2 if anyone is interested in more details.
http://cancerguide.org/rcc_il2hd.html
one good thing about the surgery date....the 15th is a saturday and last i checked, they don't schedule surgery on saturdays. so, it will not be during the ides of march. no need to fear the "impending doom" as poor Julius Caesar should have. Ha!
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