Filling in the gap
The past couple of days have gone really well. I've steadily felt better, more nimble/spry, hungrier, straighter (posture-wise), and just generally more normal every day. Yesterday I ventured out to the Natural History Museum and the Hayden Planetarium, which was pretty fun. I was wheeled around in a wheelchair, the amusement of which was increased greatly by a stick of rock candy and my repeated attempts at conversation with kids in strollers (my wheeled brethren). I even had the chance to act like a parishioner at a TV-evangelistic church when the wheelchair got caught on the way into an elevator and I jumped up and walked in under my own power.
On a completely different topic, I feel the need (in the name of science, perhaps) to fill in the game between going to Dr. Motzer and having the RPLND surgery. As you may recall, our story left off with me visiting my oncologist, Dr. Motzer at Memorial Sloan Kettering, thus beginning a journey during which I exposed my genitals to virtually every staff member of a second hospital. Unlike Marans, Dr. Motzer was concerned about the anomaly on the left side. As he explained it, the cancer would most likely spread to the right side first so if something was showing on the left side, that could mean that had already spread to the right and the left nodes, but that the right nodes weren't showing up in the CT scan. The prognosis: a new CT scan and either chemo and then Retroperitoneal Lymph Node Dissection (RPLND) or just the RPLND. You can read more about the RPLND and when it is performed if you want. I had a CT scheduled and made an appointment to come back to Dr. Motzer and to see Dr. Sheinfeld (the surgeon) the next week (since I was going to need the surgery either way).
That was a fun week. My mom was convinced that I was going to have to have chemo. I wasn't at first, but by the end of the week had convinced myself of that too. The CT scan was easy and relatively painless, especially compared to my first one. Seems like MSK did everything better than St. Vincent's.
We went to Dr. Sheinfeld first. He said the new CT scan didn't show the problem of the first, which meant that I wouldn't need the chemo. That was a huge relief. Basically there were no signs that the cancer had yet spread, but there was a 50% chance that it would spread. Dr. Sheinfeld recommended that I have the RPLND both to determine if it had spread and to stop it from spreading. He said that was the standard protocol in the US and would more than likely keep me from ever having to have chemo. He also noted, however, that in other countries they wouldn't do the surgery.
I thought it over for a few minutes and decided to have the surgery based completely on math. The surgery would come back 50% of the time and if it came back, it would do so within the first year 90% of the time. That meant there was a 45% chance that I would have a semester of law school or my studying for the bar exam interrupted by a relapse. I didn't like those odds, especially considering the surgery would only cause me to miss 3 weeks of work at my firm and would allow me to start school on time. Dr. Sheinfeld even said I'd still be able to study abroad.
I scheduled the surgery right there and didn't even need to go back to Dr. Motzer. I was apprehensive about the surgery, but ready to get it over with and move on with life. I just kept working at the firm and enjoying my summer until right before the surgery. I left my firm (with an offer to return permanently) just before the surgery and that pretty much catches you up to this post.
On a completely different topic, I feel the need (in the name of science, perhaps) to fill in the game between going to Dr. Motzer and having the RPLND surgery. As you may recall, our story left off with me visiting my oncologist, Dr. Motzer at Memorial Sloan Kettering, thus beginning a journey during which I exposed my genitals to virtually every staff member of a second hospital. Unlike Marans, Dr. Motzer was concerned about the anomaly on the left side. As he explained it, the cancer would most likely spread to the right side first so if something was showing on the left side, that could mean that had already spread to the right and the left nodes, but that the right nodes weren't showing up in the CT scan. The prognosis: a new CT scan and either chemo and then Retroperitoneal Lymph Node Dissection (RPLND) or just the RPLND. You can read more about the RPLND and when it is performed if you want. I had a CT scheduled and made an appointment to come back to Dr. Motzer and to see Dr. Sheinfeld (the surgeon) the next week (since I was going to need the surgery either way).
That was a fun week. My mom was convinced that I was going to have to have chemo. I wasn't at first, but by the end of the week had convinced myself of that too. The CT scan was easy and relatively painless, especially compared to my first one. Seems like MSK did everything better than St. Vincent's.
We went to Dr. Sheinfeld first. He said the new CT scan didn't show the problem of the first, which meant that I wouldn't need the chemo. That was a huge relief. Basically there were no signs that the cancer had yet spread, but there was a 50% chance that it would spread. Dr. Sheinfeld recommended that I have the RPLND both to determine if it had spread and to stop it from spreading. He said that was the standard protocol in the US and would more than likely keep me from ever having to have chemo. He also noted, however, that in other countries they wouldn't do the surgery.
I thought it over for a few minutes and decided to have the surgery based completely on math. The surgery would come back 50% of the time and if it came back, it would do so within the first year 90% of the time. That meant there was a 45% chance that I would have a semester of law school or my studying for the bar exam interrupted by a relapse. I didn't like those odds, especially considering the surgery would only cause me to miss 3 weeks of work at my firm and would allow me to start school on time. Dr. Sheinfeld even said I'd still be able to study abroad.
I scheduled the surgery right there and didn't even need to go back to Dr. Motzer. I was apprehensive about the surgery, but ready to get it over with and move on with life. I just kept working at the firm and enjoying my summer until right before the surgery. I left my firm (with an offer to return permanently) just before the surgery and that pretty much catches you up to this post.
posted by Moody at 2:51 PM
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