Surgery!

This post follows ” Octreotide scan”, so be sure to go back and read or re-read that post to be up-to-date. Cheers!

In late January I was once again back in my surgeons office, only a week after the latest scan, to go over these results. By now although I looked calm on the outside, I was a bundle of nerves as we went over what they had found. She said that the scan had lit up the mass in my abdomen as well as some small spots on my liver and that she and her colleagues were very certain that I had a carcinoid tumor, that was the name given to these tomurs, then it was carciniod neuroendrcine tumors and then the carciniod was just dropped. I know it’s very confusing. Believe me, when first trying to figure out what I had it was such a headache I didn’t even know if what I was putting in google to search was correct. Thank God for CNETS, without a group like that I’m sure many of us would be lost. Anyway, back to the doctors office.

My surgeon had brought my case to the tumor board to discuss with other doctors what the best option was for me. Although they were pretty certain what I had, without a biopsy there was no way to be 100% sure and because the mass was now causing pain and discomfort the decision was made to remove it, which meant bowel surgery. Because the mass sat on a major blood supply there was of coarse risks involved, such as rupturing the artery or cutting off blood supply to other parts of my body and like all major surgeries, as unlikely as it is to happen, death. She was very certain that everything would go well and that when the procedure was done a pathology report would follow to determine what the mass was. An oncologist would contact me and come up with a treatment plan, if indeed it was cancerous. Surgery was booked for March 4, 2020. Sitting here writing this now I realise how fortunate I was to have that date, as two weeks later we were all locked down. Who knows, I could very well still be walking around with this cancer in me, completely unaware that this disease is slowing trying to steal my last breath.

I left the doctors office knowing that in a month and a half I’d be going under the knife for the first time, I had a few sleepless night worrying about what they would find. As the date got closer I think my confidence grew knowing I was generally healthy and fit and would recover quickly, as for the mass I honestly figured it would just come out and if anything there would be some follow up with an oncologist Maybe some treatment to clear out what was left and I’d continue on with the rest of my life like the past 6 months were just a bump in the road. Well by now you all know I was very wrong about that.

The cold winter days went by and my date crept up fast, the morning of surgery we got up at 5 and had to be at hospital by 6 am to check in, I’d been told to be prepared to stay 5 to 6 days to recover there. Tracy, Logan and myself walked down to Brantford General and I got registered, they had to go to a waiting room while I went to the pre-surgery area to get changed, check all my vitals and get IV going. After that was all done they were able to come sit with me while I waited. I was offered Adavan to help relax me, now I’m no advocate for taking pills and I rarely do, but Adavan sure hit the spot. In 15 minutes I was feeling no pain, my nerves were gone and I felt about as happy as a kid in a candy store, as you can see by my picture. The air mattress on me is full of hot air, they try to warm you up as much as possible because a lot of body heat is lost during surgery. At 9 am the operating room nurses came to get me and helped guide me down the hall to the operating room, by this point I was very foggy and remember the room being a clean and cold with a stainless steel table the shape of a cross in the middle. I took a seat on the edge of the table and leaned over as they inserted a epidural into my back. By now everything is muffled and I lay back……..then nothing but black……..I hope that’s not what death is like……