Mood:
quizzicalNow Playing: Day 2946-Chapter 3... Happiness~My Silver Lining
What Eric could had used more of this morning was some serious coffee! Another far-too-early morning wake up call for my surgical procedure. All in 'hopes' of keeping my functioning kidney out of harms way from, once again, getting blocked from the reappearing ovary and large ovarian tumor. A surgically placed stent to fully free my left ureter tube that helps drain my kidney.
But as with life... expect the unexpected.
Rewind a few days, back to results from an emergency rescan. Hoping to make some sort of sense from existing and new symptoms. Far too much blood in the urine. Way too much uncomfortable pain. Enough nausea which doesn't allow for a need to consume much, if any protein shakes or other valuable daily nutrition.
17 surgeons later... three big specialty hospitals-mayo clinics later and maximum experimental oncology treatments. Yet, everyone has their own respective opinions regarding an ovary that has magically re-appeared after pathology reports show it being surgery removed several years ago. Yet, one single microscopic fragment that grew over the course of several years has done more than enough damage that still to this very day... continues. ORS-Ovarian Remnant Syndrome, one in now 13 in the world that still has gone above and beyond all the other 12 documented cases. Not only did this bizarre, magical ovary of many sorts grow back from one, single, microscopic fragment. But has once again defied all odds of being placed in a deep, permanent state of sleep. Last weeks emergency scan shows not just one magical ovary producing follicles. But now my right ovary is awakening from the deep radiation sleep. Another three follicles appearing on the big screen which makes for two separate ovaries, functioning on two different cycles. Not only is this unheard of by most, but as well it's the nightmare of sorts that my team of specialists were hoping would never happen... again. Which is why fast-track, maximum course of radiation therapy and a few other experimental treatments were used, yet still failed to shut down the feeding blood supply to this medical mess.
Stable... Unstable.
The only good part of the page upon page of reports was with regards to one word, 'Stable.' This means that the largest tumor and smaller tumors have remained pretty much stable since my last scan. They have only grown a slight bit, not much since the last scan. However, there is still an active feeding blood supply to all areas of the tumors and magical re-appearing ovary. Stable... is a most welcoming and encouraging word for someone like me with a very rare medical case.
What isn't a very welcoming nor encouraging word... unstable.
Once arriving for my surgical procedure this morning. I was asked to fill out a few additional forms of needed medical information and other releases. They also asked if I could provide a morning urine sample, which I only thought was possibly routine before the procedure. Then we were whisked away to the waiting area before being directed into an examination room, literally waiting a little over an hour for my specialist to come in and delivery the news. Expect the unexpected... it comes with the territory.
This mornings surgical procedure to place a stent got canceled as labs showed a far larger amount of blood coming from my kidneys than just last week. There were also cells, not good cells, that were detected which gave my specialist no other option but to cancel the procedure. We were then told the other unexpected news, "I am going to have to schedule you for exploratory surgery and biopsy of your bladder and kidney. We have a very high suspicion of cancer within the bladder or possibly the left kidney." Not the news anyone in their right frame of mind wants to hear. Myself and Eric were in no way, shape or form ready for that kind of news nor having the anticipated procedure this morning literally canceled within a last second notice.
Cancer? Again? Bladder? Kidney?
I just successfully beat skin cancer. I would never dare to say that it was an easier form of cancer. But instead, I would rather say that the location and options to treat skin cancer are far greater than other types of cancers. To now come face to face with another unexpected turn is not only frustrating, but downright frightening. I went from one report showing tumors... stable. To now other aspects with regards to labs and reports... unstable.
What about the new third option with regards to making our move out west this year that much easier? As of this evening, we are still trying to come to the realization of cells so out of control that things have now gotten way out of control. We are now facing a far bigger surgery. A major surgery with regards to two completely different types of cancer... or is it really? In my mind, if this doesn't go very well since labs are now worse than just last week, this is all connected. Things like this just don't happen. No way. No how. The only silver lining I see in today's news is hopefully things haven't had the chance to go beyond the point of medical intervention. Once again, another specialist who looked up at us across the desk with their computer, letting us know that any doctor who brushed things off with regards to my unique medical case and ongoing symptoms didn't help matters. If anything, they allowed things to get worse. Medically speaking, nothing got better. If that is so much as they had hoped or planned.
Maybe Mother Nature will bring us a huge snowstorm as they have predicted to possibly come visit us here in the county later this week. I could use a few smiles or two or three or four.
