The last two weeks have gone by way faster than any point of time during my chemo treatment. I didn’t move back to my house but I did manage to get my car back and have been driving all over the place enjoying my temporary freedom before surgery.
Joanna and I have been able to hang out a lot more now that I’m able to easily get out of the house without worrying about my immune system. A friend told me about the Cancer Survivor Park in downtown Minneapolis so we decided to walk through it after we grabbed some food nearby.
Surrounding the park, there are plaques with different motivational messages as well as steps on how to cope with cancer. Here are a few of the ones that resonated with me the most.
In the middle of the park, there’s a sculpture depicting people going through their cancer journey.
“the back five figures are cancer patients and their supporters preparing to enter treatment, represented by the maze. notice the fear, determination and hope on their faces in contrast to the joy of the front three signifying successful treatment.”
If you’re in the area, I’d recommend checking out the park. It’s in downtown Minneapolis, kiddy corner from the Minneapolis Library on Nicollete and Washington Ave.
I’ve been working on a photo project for Joanna to help her decorate her new apartment. I bought four frames but so far we’ve only decided on two photos, I think this just means we need to go on more trips.
I’ve been cooking a lot more too. The other night I made creamy chicken, sun dried tomatoes, and spinach with orzo.
I went out to dinner with my boss, Jason, the other night too. We talked about implementing a mandatory shaved head policy when I get back to work.
Christine, a friend of ours that we met on our Thailand trip reached out to me about 2 weeks ago asking me permission to use my blog as part of a presentation that she’s doing for her Principles of Oncology course. She’s a 2nd year med student and wanted to share my experience with her classmates.
Here’s an excerpt from her message to me:
I’m doing a small group presentation and wanted to ask for your permission to share your story with my classmates. I think they could learn a lot from reading your blog and hearing the more personal effects of someone going through treatment.
Seriously, I learned so much from your blog this summer. I’m so grateful that you shared your journey with your friends. Tbh I learned a lot more from reading your personal story than all the lecture slides the docs here are throwing at us and obviously your writing and story is way more memorable than all the tables and pathways that we’re inundated with in lecture
I talked to a hematology/oncology fellow at Stanford this summer and I’m shadowing outpatient this Friday!
I wouldn’t have done it initially but your experience really did inspire me to explore the oncology specialty in more depth.
I can definitely say that half the things you went through never make an appearance in lecture/text/or any form that I think is so important for future clinicians to understand. Like the mental health aspect, we never even get any focus on that but it’s so important!
My facilitator (a general surgeon at UCSD) actually wanted to share your blog with one of the course/program directors of the whole school of medicine so they can potentially share your story for next year’s students + beyond in our problem-based learning cases and/or practice of medicine lectures
It’s really humbling to me that my story has resonated with so many people, especially in the medical field. I only set out to log my experience for the people close to me because I didn’t want them to miss out on what’s going on and I didn’t want to resend the same text message 30 times. It’s just so cool that what I’m doing here actually makes a difference helping people learn more about what it’s like to have cancer.
Just having the freedom and autonomy to just be out and about has been really good for my mental health. I’m sleeping better and my muscles are a little sore because of all the activity which I think is great.
My parents and I went to the Mayo clinic yesterday for my check up and surgical consult. This consisted of the usual blood test, a CT scan to measure the size of my tumor, and a meeting with my doctors and the surgeon that will be performing the surgery.
The CT scan machine was the fanciest one that I’ve been in so far, it glowed different colors which probably means it’s more expensive. They injected me with a contrast dye to make the images easier to see. When the fluid went in, my entire body got warm starting with my right arm, then to my right leg, torso, head, left leg, and left arm. My tongue tasted funny and I had a sudden urge to pee really badly. It’s all normal procedure but I never felt this strong of a sensation compared to the previous scans that I’ve done.
I almost miss my PICC line because they had to stab my left arm for the blood test and insert an IV on my right arm for the CT scan. So I left with bandages on both arms for symmetry.
The blood tests came back when we met with Dr. Wiisanen and Dr. Costello saying that my Neutrophil count bumped up to 3.19 from 2.57 which is good for my immune system without any help from Neulasta.
The most encouraging test results were my AFP tumor markers. At the beginning, I was at 37,527 from there I went to 3,288 >588 >177 and today the markers showed that I’m at 46. You’re considered free from cancer at 0 so there’s still a little bit to go.
It’s really amazing to see the CT scan results. Here are the measurements from when I first started treatment to today.
Before: 6.23in x 4.48in x 3.82in
After: 3.54in x 2.52in x 2.64in
Derek has shrunken to half his size which is crazy.
Seeing these results and knowing how good I feel today really makes me feel blessed and thankful for everyone’s support and prayers because they really have made a difference.
I met with Dr. Wigle who is a thoracic surgeon who specializes in cancer patients. I really liked him because he was laid back but confident and he liked to joke around compared to my other doctors who are mostly serious. Dr. Wigle’s demeanor definitely made me feel better about the surgery.
He said that the procedure will be easy, he just has to slap me across the back and I can just cough out the tumor.
He actually did say that but the REAL procedure is that they’re going to cut my sternum in half, remove my tumor and inspect the surrounding organs to make sure there aren’t any additional tumors, then wire my rib cage back together. The whole procedure from beginning to end should take 4-5 hours.
Potential risks include: stroke, heart attack, and blood clots to my lungs. Because I’m young and healthy, those risks are close to 0 but are still valid risks.
Dr. Wigle asked me when I wanted to do the surgery because his schedule was free the next day (Friday). I said I needed at least a week to say my goodbyes just in case the surgery didn’t go well. He laughed and said that a few weeks aren’t going to make a difference with tumor growth so I can schedule the surgery later in October if that fit my schedule.
I talked to my family about it and if it works with his availability, we’ll likely do the surgery on October 15th. I’m looking at a minimum 3 month recovery period. No lifting anything more than 10 lbs or driving for at least 2 months.
He asked me if I had any pain during chemo therapy. I said that I had pain in my back and sides from the tumor pinching my lungs and it hurt to cough. He said sorry but that’s going to be a walk in the park compared to your recovery from this surgery….ugh
I totally see his point since the bone pain from neulasta was the worst pain related experience and that lasted at most 3 days. Since my body is going to be cut open and wired back shut, I’ll be stuck in bed for at least a few weeks.
The last 3.5 months have been SO long, can you believe I’m only halfway done?
Andrew, your blog has been so uplifting to us as prayer warriors. Your honesty in sharing your feelings even with vivid pictures has helped us pray more specifically. Your courage and peace have been a true inspiration to us all. We have been praying that your body would be ready for this surgery and now it is! Praying for these days prior, to enjoy some freedom and praying for the upcoming surgery and recovery. May God bless you, your sweetie and your family during these days. Also, continuing to pray for your Dad in his cancer battle! Charlotte Coggin, friend of Beth and Aaron Howell.