The C Word

 Just got off the zoom call with Dr Kim from Moffitt. He indicated that NONE of the lymph nodes showed any cancer.  He called this a STAGE 1 cancer, with a good shot of CURING!!!!!!!!!!!!. He said that I should start chemo after meeting with Dr Hussein on May 8 th .   I should be doing the pill capecitabine (Xeloda).   Which is the one that Hussein had mentioned previously. He is going to do some DNA testing on the tumor and along with that we have agreed that I would be doing some blood work every 3 months, that will look for potential indicators that would show a potential for the cancer to return.   If the blood work shows positive indicators after the first 3 months, it would indicate that the type of chemo I am on is not working, and at that point we would try something else.   Hopefully, it will be negative, and we will not have to worry. All in all, I would say this was the optimal results we wanted to hear.   A)     ...

ONE MONTH!!!!  I cannot believe it has been an entire month since I had surgery.  I apologize for not updating anything in the last 2 weeks, but that is because there has not been any real news to report.  My pathology is still not in.  I do have a note in my portal, that looks like it might almost be ready.  I have a zoom call with Dr Richard Kim from Moffit on Monday the 24 th .  My guess is that he will have the results and go over them with me.  I think that Dr Kim will be the one that sets the chemo schedule, so I think by Tuesday, I should know what the next step in recovery is going to be.    I have been sleeping much better.  Now that I am staying up to midnight, I am able to get 5 straight hours of sleep, then I force myself to go back to sleep and get about 2 more.  This has completely helped with my daily energy levels.  I am starting to feel much, much better.  I am so grateful for the ...

 Today we met with the surgeon.  Unfortunately, the pathology is not back yet, so a lot of Cancer specific questions, still remain unanswered.  He was very happy with the healing progress I have made so far.  He would like me to heal for another 3 or 4 weeks (at least) until starting Chemo.  The Chemo I would most likely be on is Capecitabine.   The are doing a bunch of genetic and blood testing on the tumor that was removed and this should give them an indicator of what to watch for if the cancer were to start coming back.   He did say that in these types of tumors, there is probably greater than a 50% chance that some form of cancer may come back.  He is setting up a zoom meeting with an oncologist at Moffit (Richard Kim), but he has said that Moffit will work with Hussein (my local oncologist) to administer the treatment.  Usually, the patient would need to go and be seen again by the surgeon before starting Chemo, but Denbo (the...

 Monday was the first day that I started to feel like myself again.  The leakage has STOPPED, so this has taken the burden of fear of leaking out away from me.  At 1 PM Deb and I went for a walk over to Tim and Chris’ house to see our girlfriends (their dogs, Daphne and Daisy).  Both girls were excited to see us.   We spent over an hour there chatting and petting the dogs.   When we left there, we went to Publix, I walked a few aisles, with a shopping cart to lean on.   When we came home, I was more active around the house.  When Shaun and Kim Scott brought over our dinner, they were surprised to see me answer the door.  But, not only did I answer the door, I was able to walk around and show them the pool area.  Later in the evening Charlotte and Matt came by, we spend 2 hours chatting.   Today I am going to clean of the adjustable desk in my room, so that I have a place to do puzzles or any other craft project I...

Saturday night, while I was not sleeping much, the leakage was occurring from the top of the incision, but nothing was coming out from around my belly button.  That was a first.  So Sunday all day, I decided that I would leave all covering off and just have a towel covering me all day.   Well thankfully there was no leakage.  I thought that was cool, but an anomaly.  So Sunday night, I decided to put the larger pad over the top of the incision and just that smaller one over my belly button.   When I woke up this morning, I realized that I had not soaked through either bandage.  Finally, at 11 AM I decided to remove all the bandages.  When I inspected both bandages, they were BONE dry.  I am not sure if this mean the leakage is OVER, but it has definitely halted.  I will probably still cover up tonight. HOPEFULLY, this means the leakage has stopped.  That would make me feel so relieved.

  I haven’t blogged in a couple days. Last night, which would be Saturday night, I did not sleep much. For some reason I just tossed and turned. I went to bed at 9:30. Slept very soundly until 12:30. Then just could never really get in to comfortable sleep and finally got out of bed around 6:30, 7 o’clock. I did not leak much at all overnight. Where I did leak from was the top of the incision, and not the belly button. All day today I went without gauze over my belly button and only a big Band-Aid over the top incision. I did not have any leakage during the day. Today Deb went and got Five Guys for lunch. I was completely craving a hamburger and those fries, so it really hit the spot. I think tonight I am going to take either a Tylenol p.m. or a Benadryl, something to knock me out.