My Cancer Story Part V: Surgery

In the last part I covered my experience receiving chemotherapy. Today I'll be writing about the surgery that was required after. This will be a quick post to catch my story up to the current day.

Preparing for surgery

Going through the nine weeks of hell for chemotherapy and then hearing that I was not done was crushing. More than ever, my ability to keep a positive attitude was tested. The biggest help for me during this time was reading the stories of others who had been through my specific situation. This was actually one of my main motivations for writing my own series. Hopefully my story can help in the same way as the stories I've read.

As I found out, some tumors respond much better to chemo than others. According to my scans, the tumors in my chest and neck had been effectively wiped out by the chemo. Unfortunately, some of the tumors in my abdomen had not shrunk at all. This could mean a few things. The first (and least likely) possibility was that this was just scar tissue left over after the tumors had been killed by the chemo. The second possibility was that I still had active cancer cells in these tumors. The most likely possibility was that these tumors were what is called teratoma. Teratoma is a non-malignant type of tumor that grows incredibly slowly. However, teratoma is also a ticking time bomb. Years down the road it can turn into a fast growing cancer with no known treatments. Chemotherapy is most effective against rapidly growing cells (i.e. cancer cells, hair and tastebuds). These slower growing tumors would need to be surgically removed.

RPLND - five scary letters

The surgery I was slated to have is called retroperitoneal lymph node dissection. That's a mouthful though, so everyone just calls it "RPLND". When I was first diagnosed with testicular cancer, I read about this surgery. More than any other treatment, I had hoped to avoid RPLND surgery. Unlike my initial surgery (orchiectomy), RPLND is a serious surgery. The procedure takes about six hours and the doctor would open me up from sternum to navel. Unfortunately, I couldn't avoid this treatment.

On September 15 I dutifully reported to the hospital at 5 am to get prepped for surgery. Unlike my first surgery, I was careful about what I ate the night before. If you ever find yourself in the situation of having surgery with a general anesthetic, I strongly recommend having a light lunch and dinner the night before. The anesthesia shuts down your digestive system and it takes a while to restart afterwards.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I received all of my care at a teaching hospital. The resident anesthesiologist who prepped me for surgery seemed more nervous than me. His hands were shaking as he placed my epidural. (As a side note, epidurals are awesome! Way better than morphine) At this point I did start to worry a bit - bedside manner is important. My worries didn't last long, as they give you medicine to relax you prior to surgery. From that point, everything was a haze until waking up after the surgery.

The surgeon said he removed a softball sized mass of scar tissue and tumors from my abdomen. I had no idea that a mass that large was inside me. After several anxious days waiting, I finally got the results of the biopsy. All teratoma and no active cancer! Finally, some good news. During my hospital stay the staff and nurses were so kind to me. They also were merciless in making me get out of bed and walk. I could barely make it down the hall while leaning on my IV stand, but that didn't stop the nurses from dragging me out of bed three times a day. Apparently, walking is a critical part of recovery. All told I spent five days in the hospital after the surgery.

Recovery

Recovery from surgery has not been easy. I'm currently 3.5 months removed from the surgery and still not feeling 100%. I ended up making four more visits back to the hospital to deal with complications from the surgery. Now I'm back at work, but mainly confined to my desk. I still have many months to go before I'll be back to normal. Also, I am still not sure the surgery got all of the remaining cancer. Next week I have my first CT scan since the surgery. This should show if I'll need further treatment or not. To say I'm nervous would be a gross understatement. Going back to work helped take my mind off the cancer a bit. Still, I currently find myself back in the position of uncertainty and waiting that has been a major theme throughout my series. I'm doing my best to take things as they come and just enjoy the holidays. I hope to share some good news with you next week.