Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Overtime

Tonight Florida & Washington set an NHL record in the shoot out.  They went 20 rounds before the Florida Panthers finally won the game.  So far in my "hockey game" of cancer I've gone 4 rounds; lymph node removed, chemo, radiation and surgery #1.  Well fans get ready for round 5 as surgery #2 is headed my way this Jan/Feb 2015.  I will not be selling tickets to this overtime event however I will gladly take an audience as visitors when able.  

I received a call from my surgeon this afternoon that the margins we hoped for just aren't there.  A good margin is 8mm and mine are 1mm & 2mm.  Even though we had great results with the shrinking of Big Kahuna and considered to now be cancer free, all would be short lived.  If I stayed as I am today I'm almost guaranteed to get cancer again and soon.  The only way to give myself the best possible outcome is with a colostomy. 

I meet with my surgeon for a full information session about what's to come on Jan 21st.  Plastic surgery will be involved as skin will be removed from my thigh and used to create what she called a flap.  My incision will go to my belly button so I've requested a tuck while they're in there.  It's like the lottery..ya never know.  At least that could be a benefit for me to look forward to.  Gotta ask right!  Who doesn't love a 2 for 1 deal!

This surgery is much more extensive than the one I just had.  Abdominal surgery added in to the mix means recovering over a longer extended amount of time and needing a lot more care.  I expect to hear the exact time lines in January but was given a rough estimate of 2-3 months. 

With all this bad news I saw such strength in my family today.  My brother was at my apartment within 20 minutes, dad followed in another 10 and mom arrived soon after with auntie Shely in tow.  I didn't even call them to come they just knew this was my biggest fear & came.  We sat in my living room as I read out my chicken scratch notes...my penmanship was a mess and too much paper was used but pretty sure I got most of the facts.  Some tears were shed but also had some laughs as Shane is now to be called Super Brother!  Once we settled things up Shane and Dad went back to work, I collected my basics and auntie Shely drove me and mom back to my parents. 

I have a lot to think about and figure out over the next couple weeks but feel confident I'll come out on top.  With family and friends like you how can I not.


#carly2conquercancer 


XOXO

C



No comments:

Post a Comment

Hello everyone.  I wanted to do a final entry and inform you of the new way I'll be blogging moving forward.  I just realized that today...