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[personal|cancer] I really go all the way to celebrate a book release
The diagnosis is now in. I am officially a cancer survivor. Early stage Tubulovillous adenocarcinoma (a/k/a cancerous polyp in the colon) with suspected lymphatic involvement (a/k/a possible lymphatic cancer).
A 4 cm tumor was excised, but biopsy reveals lymphatic involvement. CT scans indicate that my lymph nodes are clear, which means the best likelihood is that any lymphatic cancer is in the vessels along the affected portion of my colon.
I will be having some inches of my colon sectioned sometime in the next few weeks, which is currently expected to be a full cure, after which I will be cancer-free, a state I never before fully appreciated.
Tomorrow is my first psychotherapy appointment, Tuesday is my initial surgery consult. Beyond that, I'm on the medical merry-go-round for a while.
Why am I sharing this so publicly? Because it isn't shameful, it's annoying. It pisses me off. A little 4 cm piece of flesh shaped like a macaroni could have killed me. (I got copies of the colonoscopy imaging...if you people don't behave, I'll post them.) If it hadn't ulcerated and incited bleeding, it would have killed me. I have surgery and some serious annoyance in my future, but I'll be around to write books, annoy conservatives and make snarky blog posts for a long time to come, even if it kills me.
Meanwhile, you, and I am talking to you, go talk to your doctor about getting scoped. Especially if you're a little older or have any family history. I never would have known the cancer was there until the autopsy report, if the damned thing hadn't started bleeding.
I'll keep blogging about my experiences here, and I suspect I will find most of them funny. I don't feel very funny right this minute. But life is for the living, and I am alive. Nothing is funnier than that, my little monkeys.
Department of Weird Ironies: I went to the ER the day the mass market paperback edition of Mainspring [ Powell's | Amazon thb
| Audible ] came out. Everyone may rest assured that I will not be celebrating future book releases this same way.
annoyedA 4 cm tumor was excised, but biopsy reveals lymphatic involvement. CT scans indicate that my lymph nodes are clear, which means the best likelihood is that any lymphatic cancer is in the vessels along the affected portion of my colon.
I will be having some inches of my colon sectioned sometime in the next few weeks, which is currently expected to be a full cure, after which I will be cancer-free, a state I never before fully appreciated.
Tomorrow is my first psychotherapy appointment, Tuesday is my initial surgery consult. Beyond that, I'm on the medical merry-go-round for a while.
Why am I sharing this so publicly? Because it isn't shameful, it's annoying. It pisses me off. A little 4 cm piece of flesh shaped like a macaroni could have killed me. (I got copies of the colonoscopy imaging...if you people don't behave, I'll post them.) If it hadn't ulcerated and incited bleeding, it would have killed me. I have surgery and some serious annoyance in my future, but I'll be around to write books, annoy conservatives and make snarky blog posts for a long time to come, even if it kills me.
Meanwhile, you, and I am talking to you, go talk to your doctor about getting scoped. Especially if you're a little older or have any family history. I never would have known the cancer was there until the autopsy report, if the damned thing hadn't started bleeding.
I'll keep blogging about my experiences here, and I suspect I will find most of them funny. I don't feel very funny right this minute. But life is for the living, and I am alive. Nothing is funnier than that, my little monkeys.
Department of Weird Ironies: I went to the ER the day the mass market paperback edition of Mainspring [ Powell's | Amazon thb
| Audible ] came out. Everyone may rest assured that I will not be celebrating future book releases this same way.
Colon cancer is what killed my friend
As someone with Celiac, it's our #1 killer, so I'm signed up for annual exams.
I'm still trying to get a copy of my MRI from when they thought I had a brain tumor. I want photographic material to point to when people ask me "what kind of sick mind thinks of the things you do?!?". Then I can just post the picture and point them to it.
Since you're being public about this -- would you mind if I put something up about it in the IROSF news? I think there'd be plenty of people interested, but it's up to you.
--Brent Kellmer
news editor/IROSF
Thank you for posting
Freaky thing to have two people on my flist, post about having cancer today. Literally one post after the other with recent diagnoses.
My sister is a colon cancer survivor, eleven years out and doing just fine. I get colonoscopies every five years, like very slow clockwork.
Edited at 2008-05-01 09:54 pm (UTC)
Look after yourself.
Thanks for sharing.
Very glad to hear it.
I'm glad they caught yours early, and my best wishes for a complete recovery.
I'm so glad for you, Jay
(my brother had a tumor removed when he was 15 that turned out to be cancerous and from the lymph nodes. They removed his finger.)
Besides, you're only like a year and a half older than I am.
Some hints on handling insurance companies, hospitals, and medical bills. From a friend who has recently had waaaaay too much experience with this shit.
I am happy you'll be OK. You're one of the ones we want to keep around for a very long time indeed.
All my best wishes for the surgery and recovery.
And for those of you who do NOT have a history in your family...get checked anyway. You know those things they say "rarely" happen? Rarely doesn't mean never, and SOMEbody has to be the rare one.
Thank you for the reminder and for your public admonitions to stay healthy while still retaining your unique style of humor and news.
Zhaneel
And, honestly, I'm promising to behave (well, as much as I'm capable of behaving, anyway).
I _do_, however, mind when cancer rears it's fugly-assed head, especially for people's who's thoughts and writing I admire and respect.
Tally mark in the survival column and grist for the mill.