Saturday, July 02, 2005
My Battle with Cancer
The last five months has been a journey of a lot of ups and downs. Actually, mostly downs. Our life changed on February 7th when a routine biopsy procedure of a small lump under my right arm was diagnosed as an aggressive cancer tumor, Adenexal carcinoma. It had invaded my lymph glands which had caused earlier occurrences of lymphedema (swelled up like a balloon) in my right arm. The surgeon removed what he could of the tumor and the lymph glands he could find. He also spared a major nerve which still had a little piece of tumor. This nerve moves the latissimus dorsi muscle. Anything remaining was up to the magic of chemotherapy and radiation along with a lot of prayers and good healing energy from friends and family.
Starting in March I went through six weeks of chemo and radiation. Not a very fun experience. While the chemo gave me a continuous upset stomach and a constant metallic taste in my mouth, it slowed me down a lot. When I lose my appetite or craving for food, one knows I’m not at more norm. At the same time of chemo I received daily doses of radiation, which didn’t seem to bother me that much half way through. What I found out in the last couple weeks of radiation treatment is that it really burned, like 2nd and 3rd degree burns. They zap you which feels like a crisp sun burn, then you go back the next day for more.
After getting second, third, and fourth opinions from other doctors, we decided with our team of oncologists to put a hold on the treatments at six weeks, rest the body, and go with more surgery to remove the remaining tumor and surrounding tissue that the treatment might have missed. So last week was my second experience with surgery where my surgical oncologist went after the remaining cells and tumor. This time he was to not spare the nerve he left untouched. The surgery went well, despite severing the nerve. The best news with the surgery and following pathology report is that they found no cancer cells. We couldn’t have asked for better news. No more poison or burning treatments, no special medicine or drugs, and no more repeated doctor appointments.
Everything is looking up now. I will have quarterly scans to make sure there are no more surprises. I will also have some physical therapy ahead of me to see how to get my arm back in shape. Not sure how the tennis game will be in the future, but I should be able to paddle a surfboard again, maybe before the Summer is over. These are all minor issues in the outlook on life and how bad all of this could have easily gone.
With all of those you have been diagnosed with cancer, I feel like one of the lucky ones. I have so many people to thank for their support and prayers. I hope you all know how much I appreciated your support, cards, prayers, calls, etc. while I was going through this. I love you all for that and more.
‘Cancer Survivor’ Tom
