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!
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4 comments:
Hi Bean Saver, My name is Linda, and I wrote you a little comment last evening about your blog, and I see today that there are 0 comments. So I don't know if I hit some wrong keys, or if you just haven't seen it yet. At any rate, I want wish you the best with your upcoming surgery.
I have stage 4 kidney cancer as well, and have just recently read much of your blog. I can relate to so much of what you've talked about, I am on my 4th round of Sutent for mets in my lungs. I have a love/hate relationship with the stuff, and really laughed about the yellow stripe of hair on the top of your head. I'm right there with ya!
Well, my heart went out to you as I read about the complexities of your surgery, and I just wanted to give you a little cyber hand squeeze from an RCC "sister!"
Linda
hello linda. sorry, i never got your original comment. thank you so much for reading my blog. i hope that it provided you with some laughter during this hell that we are going through. thank you for the well wishes. have you already had your kidney/tumor removed?
btw...screw the cyber hand squeeze...here's a cyber hug baby!!!
bean saver
Hi Bean, HUGE hug back atcha! I am really much more a hugger than just a hand sqeezer!!!
I can hardly tell you how happy I am to be able to talk to someone who shares all this hell with me. I have lots of loving friends and family, but I don't even KNOW anyone else with kidney cancer, much less someone on Sutent!
I had my kidney out in late March of 06, I was diagnosed two weeks before, on the IDES of March... directly out of the clear blue frickin' sky. I had not been feeling well for over a year, joint pain mostly, but my blood work was astonishingly abnormal. I was a smoker and several doctors said my blood work looked like that of a smoker! Ok, so that was that!! I didn't want to hear any more about my smoking...(I have since quit, YAY) Long story short, I ended up seeing a hematologist who thought I had sleep apnea, but said "once in a while your kidneys can make your blood look funny. Let's do a CT scan just to rule that out." The day after that CT scan, he called me at work (!) and told me I had a grapefruit sized mass, and I needed to see the surgeon first thing the next morning. So instead of a sleep study, I had a nephrectomy. My tumor was 7 cm, and "mostly" contained in my kidney, just one little area had broken thru the margins. Enough to cause multiple mets to my lungs, as I found out later that summer. Anyway, the surgery itself was not really bad at all. I got to have a laparoscopic procedure. Less incision, less pain, still hurt like a bastard tho. Be sure to be assertive about pain meds after. I was not at first, but after a day they gave me a pain medicine pump, I think just to shut me up. It was heaven. I got Dilaudid, best stuff ever. I did not think the cancer had spread, and I was just thankful I "dodged a bullet." I was wrong.
Anyway, I am on Sutent now, and that's a whole nother story. You know how rough it is. I am on my 4th round, but I am down to 25 mgs because I couldn't tolerate the side effects at 50 mg (that damn near killed me.) Even the 37.5 was tough, caused terrible foot ulcers. So at 25mg I feel better, but I am concerned that it won't work as well. It sounds like you have had a great response, well worth the yellow hair to become "operable!!"
I was really fascinated that you will be taking the High Dose IL2. Did your doc suggest it, or did you ask?? My doctor acts like Sutent is the answer to everything, and never talks about what's next. Whole other story there too. Doctors... can't live with 'em, can't shoot 'em.
I would love to hear what they have told you about the IL2.
Well, I don't want to "talk" your ear off! I will be reading to see how things go this week before your surgery. I so, so, so hope it goes perfectly, and I will be sending up bouquets of hope for a good surgery and an easy recovery. Thank you for the fellowship and laughs...SAVE THE BEANS!!!!
Linda
march seems to be a popular month for kidney removal...it is national kidney month after all, so somehow it is quite fitting.
well, if they are successful in getting the kidney out, i have been advised by my doctor that the research that they have on sutent does not show success as far as full remission or "cured". it has been effective in the reduction of cancerous cells, but has not been successful in completely removing the cancer. sutent will work for a while, but then it will run its course so to speak and the effectiveness will level off. i was lucky to have been able to tolerate the full 50mg dose for 3 cycles...no blisters on the feet or hands, i only had the annoying side effects, not the really painful ones.
IL2 is the only treatment that has statistics that show partial or complete remission...cured. sutent has yet to be proven to accomplish this. here is a link to more info on IL2 if you haven't already taken a look. the data is a couple years old, but still relevant i believe.
http://cancerguide.org/rcc_il2hd.html
your doc may be worried about your ability to handle the high dose IL2..since i was so tolerant of the high does sutent, my doc is being aggressive with the next steps. i am 31 and he wants to be as aggressive as possible with my young age on my side and my ability to handle the side effects thus far.
sarah
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