Almost made the Five Year Mark!

Don't really remember where I left off on my last blog. Cancer is one of those things you try to put behind you. Play like it never happened and at best convince yourself it was just all a horrible nightmare that happened to someone else! It's easy to say I understand, but honestly you don't. Not till you hear that you have cancer and sit in front of an oncologist that tells you, "The surgery wasn't a total success as the edges weren't clean, and some cells are still there. You have 2-3 years to live. The end won't be pleasant and there is little to no alternative for a cure." At fist you rule the oncologist off as a total quack, what does he know, he doesn't have a crystal ball and certainly isn't God. You research his credentials to convince your self, that he is a quack. Unfortunately in my case, he wasn't a quack. As a matter of fact, he is the 3rd leading authority in the world on Liposarcoma from John Hopkins. They have followed me closely for nearly 5 years now, and with each clean scan, hope starts to return. First a scan every 3-4 months, then every 6 months...then 8 Months and finally every year! It becomes a little easier to put it all behind you with each years passing. The only reminder is the entry into your daytimer of your next appointment, and the bill that follows in the mail marked, Annapolis Oncology Group. As the date for you next scan approaches you kind of go numb. It's a miserable wait that you really can't share with anyone, the week or two after the scan, while you wait for your doctor to call and say everything is ok. You are ready for the bad news, but like a fresh breeze, your fears are erased by those words, "Everything is ok, see you next year!" You actually get to expect "It's ok", after 3 or 4 years. You remember your friends that weren't so lucky. How short their time was from diagnosis till you attended their funeral as a pole bearer. You dismiss each ones death by convincing yourself, they weren't as healthy as you, weren't as strong, were older, a smoker, a drinker, lacked the desire to live, or just not as lucky as you are. My yearly scan in March was like all others. The yearly call from the Oncologist. You know he is going to say, "Everything is OK" but this time he doesn't. Instead he is saying we see a small growth. You have to say, please say it again, I didn't hear you. It certainly woke everyone up and required further evaluation. First a PT Scan which showed no activity, ruling out fast growing cancer, but not ruling cancer out. The Doctor suggest waiting 6 months to do a follow up scan to detect and measure growth, if any to rule out scar tissue. But then he reconsiders and decides, 3 months is safer. Then the follow up CT Scan and the dreaded wait. It appears that I have a growth the size of the last index of your pinky finger. Sounds small, but it takes 1,000,000 cancer cells to cover the head of a pin! It is in an impossible place to biopsy, but certainly accessible by surgery. The assumption is, growing where the 10lb. tumor was removed with-out clean edges...Walks like a duck, Quacks like a duck, Looks like a duck, is probably another retroretroperiotoneal liposarcoma. Fortunately I was able to track down the wonderful Surgeon I had before, Dr. Kurtis Campbell at Mercy in Baltimore. He no longer practices at Anne Arundel. Dr. Campbell is in a discussion with my Oncologist who doesn't want me to be exposed to anymore radiation from x-ray due to the high exposure I have already had, My nephrologist (Kidney Doctor) who doesn't want me to be injected with contrast as I now only have one kidney and the contrast is extremely hard on one kidney. As soon as they can come to an agreement, I am to go into Mercy for another operation to remove the tumor. They have to go thru my belly as it is behind my Stomach, Intestines, Colon and bowls, which pretty much have to be pulled out to access, as was done last time. Probably a week in the hospital then a week at home. I heal quickly, so am hopeful of attending the Eagles concert on July 22nd! Blogging is so much easier to communicate with-out having to tell the story over and over again, relive it. Depending on what time of day I write, it may be a little reflective at times, and I can promise you, it will have Lots of spelling errors and many punctuation errors. Let's spend our time talking about other things. My outlook is positive. I have assembled an incredible team of experts to get me thru this and with the help of my many wonderful, caring friends, this too will become another forgotten nightmare. More to follow as the story unfolds. Oncologists Dr. Raphael Pollock Md. Anderson Dr. David Ettinger Johns Hopkins Dr. Stanley Watkins Annapolis Oncology Surgeon Dr. Kurtis Campbell Urologist Dr. David McDermott Annapolis Urology