The scoop.

Since it seems like all I ever do anymore is update the blog to talk about my darn tumor, I thought that would be a fun thing to do on a Saturday night. (Also, I went to the movie with Ash last night and Chris and Jo are out of town, so my usual weekend go-to girls are leaving me high and dry for something better to do tonight.)

I got the call from my surgeon yesterday. The biopsy results came back in record time. I'm sorry to have to say that the thing that sounded like a pig, and looked like a pig, is in fact a pig. (Pig = Malignant Liposarcoma.) The upside to this, if there is one, is that it is the same type of cancer I spent last Summer fighting. (It's comforting to know that my body just regrew the same stupid tumor. As odd as it may sound, that's better - to me, at least - than knowing my body had gone all radical and had come up with some other kind of cancerous cell mutation.)

So, it's for sure cancer. Again. (For the love! Two times in 12 months? What the heck?) What this means (in the short term): Surgery. ASAP. March 22nd, to be exact. *The treatment plan, post-surgery, is yet to be determined. I spoke with my oncologist's office yesterday and he wants to wait until I have surgery, they know more, he can talk to other doctors, and I can be on the road to surgery-recovery before we head down Treatment Road. I'll meet with him 2-3 weeks after surgery, once he knows more. So... come the first or second week of April, I'll be able to confirm/deny the rumors that I may or may not have to do chemo this time around. For now, it's just surgery. (I say "just surgery", very much tongue-in-cheek. I've been down this road before. Break out the walker and bring on the stool softeners, it's gonna be a long couple months!)

The most recent word on surgery is that I may not, after all, lose an entire kidney. Originally, that was what was discussed, but after the most recent CT (done during the biopsy extravaganza of Wednesday), word is that I may only need to lose a portion of the organ. The tumor is attached to my kidney, but it's not glommed onto it like a barnacle. Most of the tumor is actually out to the side of my kidney, kind of free floating. So... Maybe the whole kidney will be taken, maybe not. My surgeon said he'll what he can to save what he can. He has to get in there to be able to assess the damage and know for sure. I'm fine with having one and one-half kidneys. I figure, in the over all scheme of things, my having six wisdom teeth will balance that out. I'll be half an organ short, but carry a credit of two extra molars. My body. It is a mysterious (and sometimes strange) thing.

*The one thing I have been told, for certain, concerning treatment: No radiation. (Halle-freakin-lujah! Because have I told you how much I did not love the radiation?) Yeah, I was told that radiation is for sure out, because the tumor was regrowth in the same area and they won't irradiate an area more than once. (Something about the possibility of becoming radioactive... Chernobyl and Dr. Bruce Banner came up in conversation. I kid.) But really, radiation is a definite no, and that's a major win. Keep your fingers crossed, heads bowed, energy focused - whatever it is that you do - that I won't have to do chemo. (Even though one of the girls at work did give me an address for a sweet wig shop here in Phoenix, I'd really rather not go that route if I can avoid it.)

Of course, I'll post more as I learn more. Thanks for staying tuned.