Surgery Is Soon

* Picture of a butterfly that I took at the Boston Science Museum.

Tomorrow is my 31st Birthday and then Monday is the big surgery! If this surgery is successful that means I will be that much closer to being "normal" and recovering from my cancer. Let me explain....

I was misdiagnosed for a while. At first I misdiagnosed myself. I had spotting for about 8 months but thought it was simply stress. Law school was certainly stressful as was the day to day life as a young adult. Unfortunately I ignored the bleeding.

Then the pain began about 8 months into the spotting. A sharp pain in my left side, kinda like runners cramp. To help with the pain I took tylenol and eventually I was taking about 20 a day. The pain increased as did the bleeding. Finally I went to the doctor.

The first doctor actually gave me the correct diagnosis but I just couldn't believe it. Cancer....No way I thought. And that is what everyone else said too when i told them what the doctor had said. So, I got a second opinion.

The second opinion said no cancer. The PAP from the first doctor also came back negative for cancer. So I kept on going to school and trying to live life but the pain and blood kept on increasing. Finally I was bleeding so much I couldn't leave the house and the pain was so bad I stopped sleeping. Thats when I got a third opinion.

The third doctor said I was just extremely stressed. He gave me sleeping pills and psychotropic medication. Still I couldn't sleep.

Finally I brought myself to the ER, it had been 2 months since my first doctor appointment. At last I got a CT scan and the findings were not good. I did have a tumor and it was crushing my ureters which caused both my kidneys to swell. My left kidney had actually ripped open and the fluid was spilling into my gut. In short, I was dying.

The chemo, radiation and surgeries were successful and I am now cancer free. BUT, my ureters and kidney are still not well. I have stints in my ureters to keep them open, allowing fluid to flow freely from my kidney to my bladder. Unfortunately the stents are very painful and require surgery every three months. My previous doctor said that this was how I would live the rest of my life. However, my new doctor thinks the stents can be removed. If the surgery is not successful then the kidney is coming out.

We did try something like this last year and it was not successful. They took out 1 stent but I became very ill a few months later and they had to put it back in. Now we are taking BOTH out, im pretty nervous.

I will let everyone know how it works out and what my PET scan results are. Fingers crossed :)