From My Mind to....

But Steps Nevertheless - Pt 1

NOTE: I’ve purposely omitted the names of the doctors undertaking my care for privacy reasons.

Taking yesterday’s blog entry in conjunction with this and tomorrow’s entries, I hope to complete a snapshot of my fight against a foe trying to take control of my body. I sometimes wonder if cancer is mindless, operating without active knowledge. Or, if it is an evil entity eminently designed to destroy. Surely, I can see no benefit to it.

The fact is I had no symptoms that are associated with Renal Cell Carcinoma. My surgeon essentially explained that some things can’t be explained. A small consolation to me. He added that this type of cancer is one when caught early, which he said it was, is eminently survivable. I asked him how long the tumor had been growing. He said that such a tumor would grow about one to one and a half centimeters per year.

‘Holy shit,’ I thought. 'That's early?'

I had a tumor the size of a small fist attached to my right kidney potentially encasing the inferior vena cava (IVC), a major pathway for blood from the kidney to the heart. It must have been growing for years--at least five. The word ‘complications’ screamed at me as he spoke about the operation.

Scans did not fully show the extent the tumor had invaded my body. In fact, it wasn’t until the first incisions were made that the surgeon, through robotic eyes, was able to see the true scope of what lay ahead. The tumor did, in fact, extend down along the IVC. Additionally, a cancerous lymph node was attached to the IVC. Both items required special care.

The IVC is a large vein that carries deoxygenated blood from the lower and middle regions of the body to the right atrium of the heart where it is reoxygenated and sent forth. Sounds simple, huh?

It must have been. My surgeon removed the errant lymph node from the IVC along with the tumor and right kidney, which was unable to be saved, all of which was sent to pathology for testing.

Today, I have the next phase of my cancer treatment--a three-week post-surgery checkup. This checkup is not really about the surgery per se. This meeting is with the Oncology Dept. to determine what happens next with my treatment. I still have an upcoming meeting with the Urology Dept at six-weeks. Remember: Oncology deals with the medical side of my cancer; Urology takes care of the surgical side.

The management of cancer is really nothing but a series of phases. I use the term management because cancer is a complex issue, rarely, if any, treated one time for a cure. My journey has included a number of phases. I suppose other people’s journeys will be different.

I wrote about those phases before I penned the intro above. After reading what I had written, I felt some kind of intro was needed. Since I know my attention span is limited and I have a hard time reading very long dissertations at one sitting, I’m projecting that onto you and will post the phases tomorrow.

Besides, I have a two-hour drive to my Oncology appointment.