Cancer Musings (Surgery Day)

Today was the long anticipated surgery day. Greg and I arrived at the hospital at 7:00 am. Surgery was scheduled for 9:30. 

All the way through this cancer journey, there have been little surprise pieces of information that you have no choice but to process in real time and move forward or completely shut down the appointment. One of those surprises came this morning. There was this mystery appointment on the schedule this morning, a procedure before the procedure if you will, that was being called a lymph node injection. After they got me prepped and ready for the surgery, they wheeled my bed down to the area where this appointment was taking place, "Nuc Med" as it was called (that should have been my first clue). Right before the tech was about to do the injection, he said, "We're just going to inject a tiny bit of radioactive material into you so that the surgeon can locate the right lymph nodes."  My mind did get stuck on the words "radioactive material" for just a few seconds. That's when my mind processed and moved on. I didn't feel I was in the best position to get up and run down the hall and out the door at that particular moment in time.

After the injection procedure was done and my bed was wheeled back to the room, Greg was brought back there to sit with me until I was taken to surgery. Shortly, after they brought him back, we had a surprise visit from my friend Kim who was able to come back to the room and sit with us until I was taken to surgery, which didn't end up being until after 11:00. It was nice to have her there. She stayed with Greg in the waiting room while I was in surgery too. 

I spoke with the surgeon before the surgery and she said that I had already been through the hardest part, chemo. She said many people don't make it all the way through chemo because it's too tough on their bodies and they aren't able to tolerate it. That's another thing I'm glad I didn't know before this whole journey began.

The surgery went well. They removed the cancerous area and two lymph nodes. We left the hospital by 3:30. I am, of course, sore this evening but the pain is manageable. 

This is the official report from the surgeon to Greg: "The initial pathology results indicate no cancer cells, only scar tissue where the cancer once had been. She is 95% confident that I am cancer free with the initial testing, but they will test every cell removed in order to get a fully confident verdict. So far, it looks good."

I meet with the oncologist on June 19 to go over the pathology report with her and get the final results. If the final results show that there was a complete response to treatment, and the cancer is gone, I will proceed with radiation treatment for 4 weeks. I praise God for the successful surgery and this encouraging initial report. He has been faithful every step of the way, no matter the news from the medical team or the side effects. 

I will be out of work for two weeks now recuperating from the surgery. I am very appreciative of all the prayers and encouragement I have been receiving from family, friends, and coworkers. Thank you all.