Whatchu talkin bout Willis?!

so, in my search for people like me out there...30 somethings that have been diagnosed with kidney cancer, the pickin's are slim. many personal blogs are about random drama in people's lives that few other people in this world give a rat's a$$ about...this one will probably be no different. although the main subject will be my cancer, i'm sure i will go off on random tangents about anything from mixed emotions to who cut me off on the highway today. im not an english major...i wont capitalize or punctuate correctly, i will change tenses and i will speak like a g33k from time to time. basically i will be me...because i can hide behind my computer screen and its great!

ps...i will also jump around...my mind is all over the place all the time...

Saturday, April 19, 2008

speedbump within the speedbump... :(

this post isnt going to be the usual sarcastic kick cancer in the ass tone as i am still trying to recover from the surgery and it sucks. sorry i haven't updated the blog or talked to any of you, but i have been having a really hard time. plus, my meds tend to make me a little loopy, so my train of thought/writing is sometimes hard to follow.

basically, to complicate things, i managed to injure the piriformis muscle in my left butt cheek. yeah, what the hell is that you ask? well, apparently i am unique and talented as well. the prirformis muscle is a little muscle underneath the larger glute-max, kinda smack dab in the middle of the cheek. the symptoms are similar to that of a sciatic nerve injury because the piriformis muscle tenses up causing all the muscles and ligaments that are attached to it to tense up and that puts pressure NEAR the sciatic nerve causing similar pain. my whole left side has been painfully tense and i have pretty much been in traction. the treatment is the same as any soft tissue treatment. heat, stretching, massaging and time....LOTS of time. what's kinda cool is when you find that tense little bugger and rub it, ALL of the other muscles begin to relax....it is amazing how everything is attached in our bodies and one little injury can screw up so many other things. so, on top of the regular pain you have to put up with during open surgery recovery, i have had to deal with this other random problem. it's been a painful and difficult juggling act....up all hours of the night taking baths, getting massages, nauseous from pain meds, etc. etc. extremely frustrating, completely demoralizing and just plain ole depressing.

i also had another MRI because dr. doom wanted to make sure that the pain wasnt being caused by something else. a pinched nerve that could be treated with steroid injections or the original back pain coming back. both of those were pretty much ruled out when nothing new showed up on the MRI.

so, sorry team bean saver. i don't have any other good news except for the MRI at this point. i can say that i am finally starting to feel better, but it is slow going and frustrating....especially since i was making such great progress my first week home. anyhoo, hopefully the next time i update this blog it will be with better news and details of "plan B" since i have an appointment with dr doom regarding next steps in my treatment on May 8th.