Here is my story about kicking cancers ass. Im usually very private about these things but have decided to share this in case someone else is going through a similar situation or just one of lifes great tests. I owe a lot to Ben Lenett because his courage was contagious and his strength helped me prepare for this. Thanks Ben! So I woke up one morning about 3 months ago with pain in my shoulder and neck. Exercise, heat and the usual treatments didnt help so my doctor ordered an MRI. I expected to learn that I had a pinched nerve but instead was told that I had a tumor surrounding the nerves and blood vessels on the left side of my spine C2 - C4. I saw several specialists and everyone said that the image clearly looked like a schwannoma, which is a benign tumor that grows around the never sheath. More scans also found that there is a tumor on the back of my spine itself and a small tumor on the inside of the spine. Fortunately Dallas is home to Baylor Medical Center, one of the top hospitals in the country and I ended up under the care of two very good doctors, Dr. Christopher Michael, Neurosurgeon and Dr. Lance Oxford, Ear, Nose & Throat specialist. Both doctors wanted a biopsy of the tumor performed prior to surgery but due to all the nerves and blood vessels surrounding it, a biopsy was going to be as difficult as the surgery itself so they decided to surgically remove the tumor. Surgery (last week) was going to be an all day affair with the two doctors working as a tag team. Phase one was an incision from the front to remove the main tumor located on the side of my spine. The Ear, Nose & Throat doctor would guide the way past all of the glands and the Neurosurgeon would remove the tumor. Phase 2 was going to be brutal. The Neurosurgeon was going to go in on the back of my neck and would need to remove some of my spine. There was talk about screws, fusing vertebra and other things that I was not looking forward to plus I would lose some strength, range of motion, etc, in my arm and spine at a minimum. Fortunately, the biopsy results after the first phase came back showing that the tumor was malignant. Yes, I said fortunately. Its not often that you hope for cancer but in this case, they didnt perform the second phase of the surgery, which would have definitely kicked my ass. Now we switch gears and treat the tumor with radiation and maybe a little chemo. So far the only side effects of the surgery have been the general pain from the surgery plus a little tingling of my fingertips, which is probably temporary. Instead of 8 weeks in a cervical collar, loss of some use of my arm and shoulder, a fused spine, Ill take my chances fighting the tumor instead. Now its time to kick cancers ass!
Posted on: Mon, 04 Aug 2014 21:52:55 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015