Well, as you can see I haven't been on here in a while. Needless to say it's been an emotional and draining last week or so. Let me start with why....so during this process of Cancer, I call it a process because there are no shortcuts, and definitely no easy fixes, I have been told a few conflicting things about what my treatment will be. The first oncologist I saw in my hometown of Warren, OH gave me a quick physical, drew some blood and seemed positive that I may need no treatment at all. He also scheduled me to see him 6 weeks later, just to be sure. Now during this time we had our worries, but, myself not being anything of a doctor heeded his advice and continued my recovery from surgery. Now the urologist that performed my surgery not only set up that appointment with said oncologist, he also set up an appointment with another urologist in Pittsburgh (see last blog) for a follow up and a second opinion. Now when I saw this urologist he seemed very concerned with my case and the fact that my oncologist at home was not reacting with any treatment. It was his concern that with the type of cancer I have, the results of recent scans, and with my high AFP count (tumor markers in the blood), that I would need either Chemotherapy or surgery to remove my Lymph nodes. The worst part was, he thought I may need both. So what was to be a routine follow up appointment quickly turned into more blood work and more scans. Before we left for the day, he set me up with an oncologist in Pittsburgh that only deals with testicular cancer.
It was a long and terrifying week leading up to meeting with the oncologist. Not knowing which treatment would be used, but knowing both the treatments side effects, can kill ones good mood. Luckily, again, I have wonderful support in my girlfriend and friends and family that it actually wasn't as bad a week as it could have been. Then I met with the doctor. He was 98 percent positive that chemotherapy was my best course of action, so, I gave more blood, scheduled some pre-Chemo tests and scheduled my first cycle of Chemo. The drive home from Pittsburgh that night was pretty somber, even though Chemo was kind of what I wanted done anyways. That was last Friday. This week has been spent calling around trying to get housing, cleaning the house for when I am home, and my girlfriend rearranging her work schedule so that she could assist me. That was until Thursday.
Thursday my oncologist called me and informed me that himself, his team and my urologist butted heads and came to the conclusion that surgery would actually be the best bet at this point. What brought them to this conclusion is beyond me, but again, I'm no doctor. Apparently, if I have Chemo now I would most definitely need the surgery afterwards, where-as if I have the surgery first, there is a chance I may not need Chemo. I won't go into details as I am already rambling, but this information contradicted what was told to me prior and basically slapped me in the face. So now we have canceled the chemo, and I am scheduled for surgery on Monday, March 25th. I am not looking forward to this at all, as it is a very invasive, 8 hour surgery. Surgery is followed by a week in the hospital and up to 12 weeks home recovery. Not cool. So I write to you now and hopefully a few more times this week (I completed my first trade via blog,details coming soon) because I definitely will not be able to for a while. Peace and Love. Ken
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