Vidioblogification

Oh, here’s the link to that song that I mentioned, the nice one, not the screaming:  Bellarive – Tendons (The Release)

Hard to believe I’ve already done 17 of these

Yup, that’s right, today is my 17th chemotherapy treatment.  I don’t find the “time flies when you’re having fun” cliche appropriate, maybe more of a “time goes by quick when you want to sprint carefully to the finish so as to balance not dying and not barfing at the same time… while sleeping a lot”.  Meh, you decide which one you like best.  Things are going well.  I’m getting a smidge nervous about the possibility of an upcoming surgery, but at the same time, embrace my cure.  I’d likely have a Retoperitoneal Lymph Node Dissection (no gross pictures on that page by the way, I’ll include them below 😀  ).

Snip Snip.

I’d like to think I’m fairly logical and rational, as would my INTJ branding.  I’m also a compentency seeker, so knowing more about a particular thing, allows to to process it better.  So for me, learning more about my type of cancer and even the possible surgery, calms my mind.  I’m continually reassured with the HIGH survivability rates of testicular cancer.  And for me, and most with Stage 1 and 2 testicular cancer, its high 90’s.  Emotionally, I’m sure I’d feel different if it was much less than that, but rationally, I’d still want to know.

All that to say, here comes some info about the surgery.  If you process emotionally, and don’t like the details, don’t read on.  I don’t get super detailed all the same.

This is a post surgery picture, showing the length of the incision.  These can be done laparoscopically, but I don’t know if that’s what I’ll have or not at this point in time.  This is actually a picture of Tom Green, or at least that’s what the internet leads me to believe.  He did a WAY over the top special about his fight with testicular cancer, and has some video of the actually surgery which I won’t post, but it’s out there if you want it.  My percentage of having the surgery is higher than usual, since :

(1) We didn’t do it with cancer round #1,

(2) It’s been 3.5 years since round #1, normally it would have come back within 2 years, so I’m in the “lower-threshold category”

(3) I need more scars,

(4) The type of cancer they suspect it to be, teratoma, can be persnickety

So, basically if there’s any chance of it returning, they’ll do the surgery and remove the lymph nodes.  If you remember from previous postings, my cancer has already spread to my lymph nodes, but only 3-4 were above normal, or at the top end of normal.  That doesn’t mean that it hadn’t spread to other lymph nodes, just that we caught this early!  So time will tell.  

Praying for us

Several people have mentioned that they are praying for us, and when I’m praying for someone, knowing what they’d like to be prayed for really helps, especially when it’s ongoing and things are changing.

So, patience.  Cancer is stressful in lots of ways, I’m pretty much a potato at home, so not only is Lindsay balancing a lot more, the kids are going crazy without as much crazy time with me!  So pray for patience, and joy in the midst of chaos.  That we’d do our best to live in the livable moments, and survive in the other ones.

I don’t “worry” about finances in the “holy moses, how are we going to pay all these”, because we’ve always had our needs met.  In fact, with cancer round #1, our initial bills were met almost to the penny ($6-7k).  Lots of our bills have started rolling in, and they will all change 7 times over the next 1-3 months.  What stresses me out about the bills, is when Mr. Haggler comes in (that’s me), and tries to save money by talking with everyone and their mother.  So, I’m putting all the bills in a folder, and I’ve decided to not look at them until this cycle is over (I’m not avoiding paying them, just waiting for them to finishing going through the rounds).

THERE YOU HAVE IT!  Booyah!