Just another speedbump in the road to a cure....

thanks to all of my wonderful friends and family for all of your well wishes, support, flowers, bears, balloons, plant baskets, etc. i deeply appreciate everything and every member of team bean saver.

well, as many of you know, dr. cold fish wasnt able to get the kidney out. they got the cantaloupe sized ovary out and it did have cancerous cells that were contained within the ovary itself, but they determined that they originated from the kidney and that my uterus and other ovary were fine, so they left them in. the kidney fought back and my surgeon wasn't able to get it out. lefty's last stand ended up NOT his last stand. basically, lefty had latched on to my colon and intestines like velcro which dr. cold fish did not anticipate. also, he would have had to sever my aorta as well as go chopping away at other organs in order to get it out and he didn't want to risk my life when i still have other treatment options with dr. doom. he was on the phone with dr. doom during and after my surgery to discuss what was going on before he gave up.

while they had me open, they were able to get a bunch of other tissue samples that they had not been able to get before....they sent them to the local pathologist and also to an internationally renowned pathologist at Harvard for a second opinion to officially determine the type of cancer cells. just to recap, the results from my original biopsy last sept. were inconclusive....the cells didn't look like the typical clear cell RCC, but since it looked similar, dr. doom started me on the sutent treatment and it worked. the cancer responded to sutent as if it were clear cell RCC. we now finally have a conclusive answer!! YEAH! i actually have "collecting duct renal cell carcinoma". it is obviously still of renal origin, but it is a type that makes up <1% of all RCC cases. yup, i am one special gal! luckily, the stats for it aren't worse than its cousin...it responds to treatment the same as clear cell and it has also responded to additional treatments such as chemo whereas clear cell RCC does not respond to chemo. here's a link if anyone wants to know more about it.

http://www.uptodate.com/patients/content/topic.do?topicKey=cancer/9134

so, not getting the kidney out at this point ends up not being the end of the world. dr. doom is actually all smiles....he seemed happy that i made it through surgery with flying colors, that the ovary is out and to have some more "evidence" to test and help determine next steps. he was REALLY excited about sending the samples out to the fancy HAAAvARD (can you hear the snooty accent) pathologist. the rarer i become, the happier he gets. can't get much more rare than <1% of all RCC cases, plus im not a man, plus im not over 50, plus i had great response to his treatment....im sure he can just taste that medical writeup coming.

i don't know if dr cold fish felt bad that he didnt get the kidney out or what, but he said that he called in a plastic surgeon to close me up...they closed my incision with a type of super glue...i have no stitches or staples...the skin is literally glued together in order to minimize the scar. pretty cool! there are stitches underneath holding the muscle layer together to heal of course, but the top layer is just glued.

i won't bore you with details of the pain (let's just say that percocet is my BFF) or the horror story from my second day in the hospital(catheter, cussing nurses and not enough pain meds is all i have to say right now)....if anyone wants details about the surgery or has an questions, just shoot me a comment and i will write a post with more detail later. I will say that on the 3rd day in the hospital, dr. cold fish told me that the world was waiting for me to fart....they wouldn't release me or let me eat regular food until i farted. ha. usually this is not an issue for me, but it took me 5 freaking days to fart....needless to say, the whole floor knew when i did. it was like the first time your kid goes potty on the potty. my mom ran outside looking for the nurse screaming "she farted!!! she farted!!!!"

And the winner is..........drumroll.....

The Mission: Operation Lefty's Last Stand
The Team: The Surgeon Generals

11:30am the attack begins....CMC Main Hospital.

Fingers, toes, legs, arms, eyes....everything is crossed. WISH ME LUCK TEAM BEAN SAVER!!!!

UPDATE: Gonna be kickin' it oldschool

had my final pre-op appt with the renal onc surgeon today....will be on my way to the generaal pre-op appointment at the hospital shortly.

well, i thought that they were going to be closing me up using the cool plastic zipper thingy made by medizip that i posted a link to on a previous post, but today i learned that they are going to stitch me up the old school way. damn...i was looking forward the the whole "Frankenstein" effect with that thing on me. oh well.

also, dr cold fish gave himself a 50/50 chance of getting the kidney out today. he said he is hoping that the tissue is soft enough that he can peel it back, clamp it and get to the vein he needs to get to. he said that the other vein(or artery) i dont know which one is which still...that he has to get to is no problem...its just one of them that he has concerns about.

i told him that i was going to cross my fingers as they put me under so my fingers were crossed the whole time. he said he would cross his too....somehow i don't think its such a great idea if HE crosses his fingers! ha!

also found out exactly what "bowel cleansing" is today....its pretty much what is sounds like. sunday i have to be on a liquid diet...water, gatorade, broth, etc. and then take a heavy duty laxative around lunch to clear my ass out...MMmmMMMmm. guess they don't want me pooping on the operating table...understandable.

more on the second appointment of the day later.....

Nothin' left on the left...

okay. so i had a pre-op appointment with the obgyn onc, dr. T which i forgot to post. he did the full "girly" appointment and also informed me of what exactly he was going to be doing during surgery. he also informed me that the ovary is actually more like the size of a large cantaloupe, not a grapefruit. DAMN! no wonder the thing sticks out like it does.

okay, so, surgery. while they have me open, he is going to take the ovary and send it down to the pathologist STAT to test it for cancerous cells just to CYA since it has not been biopsied. he said that there is some slightly abnormal tissue at the bottom of the ovary, but that it is all completely contained and that in the past when he has seen something like that, it has been cystic and benign. HOWEVER, if the pathologist sees trouble, there is the potential for a full hysterectomy...to take both ovaries and the uterus. dr. T thinks this is the least likely scenario and reassured me that he is fairly certain they would only be taking the left ovary, but he had to go over every possibility with me. he said: "this should just be a one and done scenario with me...apart from the follow up appointment 4 weeks after surgery, i should be a one and done for you." he cracks me up...he always throws something in there like that. 6 months ago when i first saw him, he said that when i am able to have surgery for the kidney, he would just "pop" in the OR and take the ovary during the nephrectomy (removal of the kidney).

so, that is the update on the ovary. he also said that while they are in there, if they nick my bladder or intestines....they'll fix that before they close. ummm, yeah...i would hope so! ha!

Houston....we are a go.

Monday March 17th, St. Patty's Day, Jen's b-day....now Operation "Slice N Dice" also shares this date. Surgery to remove the cantaloupe sized ovary and hopefully the kidney and surrounding "stuff" is scheduled for 11:30am. I am to check in at 9:30. I also have 2 pre-op appointments on March 12th. one is at the hospital for all of the preliminary blood work and medical history and meeting with the anaesthesiologist, etc. that one is at 3 and could last for up to 2hrs. the other pre-op appointment is with dr. cold fish to go over what im supposed to do to prepare for surgery, etc. the nurse mentioned something about "bowel prep". im not sure what that means, but i am not looking forward to it...why does everything always end up being about my bowels?! geesh!

as far as the naming of the surgical team....i'll be taking suggestions as well as votes for favorites until Sunday the 16th. let's be creative people!!! half of you are designers or creatives! :P the winner gets...ummm...a night in the hospital with me...ok, ok...how bout bragging rights. that's about all i got. hehe.