My surgery

So the next steps on this journey to being a cancer survivor was to remove the tumors that had spread to my liver from the primary cancer that was previously in my colon. On March 13th I had liver resection surgery. Before slicing me open, they took a look around laparoscopically to make sure that they didn't see anything new. Things looked good, so they made an incision from above my belly button to my breast plate (right in between my breasts). They actually moved my liver over to this incision in order to avoid having to cut horizontally, which would've cut through muscle. I had communicated to the surgeon that I was concerned about cutting through muscle, so I felt it was very thoughtful of him to have been able to avoid that. I think it shows that you really need to communicate with your surgeon/doctor about your concerns because they sometimes have alternatives. I did the same with my anesthesiologist, and he made some adjustments to my treatment based on my concerns. They really do listen!

The surgery went smoothly and only took 3.5 hours, which is shorter then the 4-5 estimated hours. They removed about 15% of my liver, which is considered very minimal. You can have 50% of your liver removed and have normal liver functions...and your liver regenerates in 2-3 weeks. Crazy, huh?

So surgery was considered very successful, and I've since received my pathology results which show that the four tumors they removed where just normal tumors (nothing weird about them), and the margins around the tumors were normal cells. This means that they successfully removed all of the cancer. So I am currently CANCER-FREE, and the countdown begins toward being a cancer survivor. 59 months to go without any new cancer :)

Unfortunately my hospital stay sucked royally. There was one good nurse, a couple semi-competent ones, and a few horrible ones. I keep saying that I want to write about it, or even write a letter to Duke about it, but I must admit that I feel a bit traumatized by it and don't want to re-live it. So I'll leave that for another post, someday :)

Recovery was a bit harder than my previous surgery, and that was a bit of a surprise. I was really tired for the first two weeks. I needed a nap every few hours. I got some good supplements from my homeopathic oncologist, got some new homeopathic meds from my local homeopath, and I started acupuncture. I was feeling much better within a week and was able to go back to work, but working from home to take it easy.

I went back into the office yesterday, and I'm doing really well. My energy is good and I don't have any pain. My biggest complaint is that my back hurts because my muscles are overcompensating for the lack of core strength in my abdomen. You forget how much you need your abs to sit and stand up straight! I can't wait to be able to build that strength back up. And damn I need a massage!

Thank you to everyone that has sent flowers, cards, chocolate-covered strawberries, and positive thoughts my way over the last several weeks. And a most important THANK YOU to my brother from Montana, my cousin Ann from Arizona, my mom from Chicago, and my Dad and stepmom in Charlotte who have taken time out of their lives to assist me in my recovery from this surgery. I really could not have done this without each of you, and I can't thank you enough.

Xoxo
Sarah