Anybody got a hatchet?

Met with the oncologist this week.  Thankfully they got my case reviewed by the tumor board and they came back with a consensus, more chemo.  Yep, you read it right.  There is consensus that there is no detectable levels of cancer currently in my body but the pathology report from that single lymph node that had cancer had it on the exterior of the node.  As a result there is concern it could have flaked off some cells that are swimming around.  Considering that last time it took the cancer less than two years to spread to all those lymph nodes from an undetectable state, we want to go after while it's retreating.  The good news is we aren't talking of doing dose dense MVAC again, I'm done with that nastiness.  Instead I have a couple options: GC or PGC.  GC was one of the options we were looking to do at the start of treatment but decided to go for a little bigger gun.  The side effects shouldn't be as bad as the MVAC but the cocktail still has Cisplatin in it.  The PGC option adds another drug, Paclitaxel, which could aid in clearing out more of the possibly existing cancer.  I say could because the head to head trial between the two didn't quite meet the statistical requirements to show a valid advantage, but it was close.  The concern however is it is known to cause neuropathy, damage to nerves, and I am starting to already have a numbness in my toes due to the last treatment regiment.  Currently it isn't painful but it could progress to be so and some damage can become permanent.  There would only be 2-3 cycles of treatment and each cycle is 3 weeks so only a couple more months to push through.  I get to pick my starting date but we are planning to begin in 1-4 weeks, sooner the better but I want to see if I can add some pounds first.  The appetite is doing ok but the weight gain has not quite gotten traction.  I figure the body is using a lot of energy to mend my insides.  Recovery is still coming along slowly.  I have noticed I can walk at a decent pace now with less pain and the swelling has gone down significantly, almost non-existent in the mornings. 

As I've said, I have a couple decisions to make and I won't be returning to "normal" life for at least another two months.  I was anticipating that this would be one of the recommendations but it wasn't until I got in the car to leave the doctors office that it hit me, a part of me really wanted the surgery to be it and no more chemo.  It was definitely a torn feeling as I do believe more chemo is the right thing to do for the long run but knowing that I have to go through with poisoning my body again is tough.  So we're going to aim at a possibly existing mosquito with an hatchet and hopefully cleave that buzzer into pieces.

Recovering in the Valley

Well I'm making progress.  The wound area is not nearly as sore but I'm still not using any abdominal muscles, my sauntering is becoming more of a steady walk, and getting up and down from a lying position has become easier.  I've been staying at my parent's house since Friday and it's nice being home.  My grandparents have been dropping by to make me lunch and go for an afternoon walk which is a nice breakup to my day of reading, naps, video games, and netflix.  Next week will be follow up appointments with the oncologist and surgeon.  I expect to have a better idea as to next steps afterwards and if any more chemo is in the near future.  Part of me definitely doesn't want to go through with anymore of that and another part says lets kick this cancer while it's down.  There is no known cancer in my body at this time but there still may be concern of small sites due to the small amount of live cells found in one of the 24 lymph nodes.  Either way, recovery from the surgery is top priority so that's what I'm focused on. 

For those of you I haven't seen in awhile, my hair growing abilities have returned.  I'm sporting a decent beard and tuft of hair on top of my head.  It's all coming in full but the patch that my nephew pulled out, that area is a bit sparse.  I plan to be back in the 'couv in a couple weeks.

Released on good behavior

Getting released from the hospital ain't too shabby of a birthday gift.  After keeping solid food down yesterday they decided I was good enough to be on my own.  I am feeling alright, off all pain meds, and can saunter around like an old man.  We celebrated tonight at my brother's house and it was great to be back.  This is definitely going to take a couple months to heal fully but we are off to a good start.  Barring any late complications (this surgery it is fairly common) I will head out to the valley to recover at my parents' house for a couple weeks this Friday.

Update from the hospital bed

Holy cow! Surgery flipping hurts sometimes.  As you can imagine this week has not been the smoothest and I'm pretty sure has been one of the tougher ones in my existence.  I've been saying it all along but support from family and friends is huge in these situations and all day and night I have had someone by my side to help aide me through this and I just have to say a big thank you to all who have gotten to visit or send your well wishes.  My attendees here have kept me posted throughout the week with your messages.  Today I am feeling much better than just a couple days ago and able to walk normally (still no ab workouts though).  I have found that surgery is a bit different than chemo in the sense that after surgery is set in motion, there is not a choice to cry uncle and take a break.  I also wanted to reiterate how big of a success this surgery was.  The goal of the surgery was to pull out all the cancerous tissue and sew me back up to heal with no cancer left in the body.  At the end of at least an 8 hour surgery, my stellar team here at UWMC managed to remove my bladder, prostate, and 24 lymph nodes.  They then took a 60 cm section of my small intestine and created me a neobladder (I was lucky enough to have this option as there was no cancer in the urethra, they tested it during surgery).  It took until late Friday evening for them to finish up the pathology report from all the removed tissue and Dr Wright came in on Saturday morning to give me the news.  They found no cancer in the bladder or prostate, no cancer in the lymph nodes highest in my chest (highest risk), and only microscopic living cancer in one of the smaller nodes next to the bladder that was surrounded by dead cancer.  It was great to hear that the chemo had been so successful and that we managed to pull out everything that was affected.  Tears of joy my friends! 

I'm now waiting on my bowels to decide to play nice with each other once again.  The last few days have been full of a forward/backward movement that I must say is not fun.  The scar is not quite as long as I was originally thinking but it is still 6-8 inches long, mostly below the belly button.  If I can manage to keep some solid food down for a day I will be on my way out of here and likely recovering at my parents house for a couple weeks.  Not sure how long the rest of recovery will be but I think I'll be taking it slow and the hard parts should be behind me. I may post more details of the past week later but it may not be the most pleasurable read.

Ferlan and friends, see you in June for the sprint triathlon :)

Post surgery

Phil's surgery was a success. He has a long road of recovery to come, but has a great starting point.

-Lorri