Good medical update

[dorinda]

Someday I'll post about something that isn't my health, I swear. :D

But as Aragorn says... THIS IS NOT THAT DAY.

I'm back to work, started half-time and am ekeing my way closer to full-time bit by bit. Still on lifting restrictions until July, so colleagues help me with bulky stuff.

I had my followup appointment with the surgeon yesterday, and the healing looks great. Also, the pathology lab finally staged the tumor: they said it's a 1A, and even on the lower end of that, with no penetration past the lining. Which is great!

There was one "but", however, which was the presence of basically a free-floating "fragment" of cancer in one of the tubes. Not attached, just sitting there. It could easily be an artifact of the surgical procedure--you put pressure on the stuff being removed and tiny bits might get shoved around. the surgeon had an alarming but hilarious analogy for this, involving a jelly donut. *g*

But since that's also a path that cancer sometimes uses when trying to sidle out to the rest of the body, they've scheduled me for followup pelvic exams every three months instead of every six months. Oh, well. It's just a shame that the surgeon's office is so far out of town; it bites a good chunk off my workday. But eventually he said I'll be able to alternate his far-away office, with my regular gyn's very-close office.

SooOooOoo many pelvics in my future. Maybe this sort of inundation will train me not to mind them?

And speaking of Aragorn: I rewatched all of the Extended Editions, starting a few days after I came home once I felt well enough to pay attention. And I found them to be excellent supplementary medical care! Apply To Eyeballs As Needed.

Comments

[gwyn]

Yay 1a! I'm 1b. We're right next door. I've been wanting to check in with you and see what the news was, but also reluctant to pester you, so I'm really grateful for the update. Though that's definitely a boo on more pelvic exams, ugh. I have to have mammograms more often in addition to the blood draws and stuff, because the genetic test showed I could be a gray zone with that, and there's something about that--more exams of the really awful variety, that's just…like, you're really glad that the initial cancer is small, and you don't have to do radiation and chemo and all that, and you know people who've had it way worse, but at the same time you're sort of dreading the follow-ups. It's like yay! and then ugh!

[dorinda]

Hi-five, next door neighbor. :D

I suppose that at least the comparatve inundation of upcoming surveillance-checks gives me a place to put some of my anxieties about the whole thing... like, when I suddenly become convinced I am RIDDLED WITH CANCER OMG A WALKING TIME BOMB etc., I can go, "well, soon I will be at the doctor's where they will check and see." Whereas if just left to myself, I would feel the anxiety, but not feel like I had a good excuse to make a fresh doctor's appointment?

[the_shoshanna]

OMG YAY! I am so happy and so relieved to hear this! (Except for the wayward rover -- and also the alarming jelly donut metaphor. I don't think I want to know.)

Here's hoping that you'll soon be able to at least get half the pelvics at your regular gyno's office. And that they will fade into an annoying but mundane and thoroughly unexciting routine, like dental cleanings. (Which my father got every three months, because he preferred that to flossing.)

[dorinda]

♥ ♥ ♥

[vix_spes]

I'm so glad to hear that recovery is going well!! I totally agree with you on the extended editions being an excellent healing aid. I used Rejseholdet as mine after my last surgery ;)

[dorinda]

Rejseholdet is a great comfort watch! Which is funny, what with all the greyish seedy camerawork and the crimes and whatnot... but it's still true. :D It's the team and the relationships, I bet. ♥

[aerye]

Yay! So glad you are feeling better and that the tests show a good prognosis!

[dorinda]

Thanks! I'm back to full time at work now, which is great, but of course also has its drawbacks--like full Metro trains, and never enough time to get enough sleep and stuff. But hey, I'll take it!

[treewishes]

Great news! Good luck with all the transit. And jelly :)

[dorinda]

Thank you! I'll take all the luck I can get. I hope con.txt was great this year--the bits and pieces I saw on twitter and dreamwidth looked terrific. And an APP, which is a fantastic idea!

[lynndyre]

Super glad to hear! ♥

[dorinda]

\o/

Thanks again for the get-well-soon picture... I'm sure it helped.

[przed]

Yay for the good healing and the 1A category. That's great! Also yay for getting to watch all the Extended Editions again.

But boo for the more frequent pelvic exams. I am, shall we say, not a fan.

[dorinda]

Yeah really--I'm going to have to think of some kind of morale booster for every exam day, so as to dial down the dread. And I mean I can't rewatch the Extended Editions EVERY time.

(...or CAN IIIIIII...)

[przed]

My obgyn oncologist offered me valium before exam days. Extended Edition rewatches seems a much better treatment option. ;-)

(I didn't take the valium. I react sooo badly to benzos.)

[klia]

Frequent, far away follow-up pelvic exams are no fun at all, but I'm just so, so relieved they staged you at 1a. Most excellent news. ♥

[dorinda]

Relieved for sure! The waiting period between surgery and path report was nooooo funnnnnnn. (Well, I mean, I did watch the Extended Editions and such. So that was fun. *g*)

[hafital]

Yay! So great to hear this news! I am cheer-leading in my chair. :D :D xo

[dorinda]

Thank you! Sorry for such a delay in responding to comments... turns out there is in fact a downside to returning to a full work schedule. Shocking, I know. :D

[halotolerant]

So glad for the positive news *hugs* Many pelvic exams is No Fun for sure, but this still sounds good. Do take it gently on the re-entry to normal life, surgery does take its toll on the energy levels.

[dorinda]

*hugs back* Thanks! And yeah, so true on the energy... I'm back to full time and full activity, and I'm noticing that it's harder to get as much rest/sleep as I need to keep up with everything.

[ride_4ever]

So glad to know of your recuperating, and continuing to send healing thoughts your way. (And I could not resist using my Diefenbaker donut icon here.)

[dorinda]

Thank you for the kind thoughts, and especially for the Dief-donut! ♥