SeattleVertigo
Refugee
My boss, who is one of my closest friends, was diagnosed with cancer in the area of the pancreas a couple of years ago. At the time, doctors wanted to do major surgery, which included taking out a good portion of his insides and would have left him with a 50 percent chance of surviving 5 years. He decided instead to treat it through alternative therapies, and was able to bring the indicators back close to normal for a while. And he resumed a normal life with normal activities.
Late last year, he started noticing problems in his back, and one day in December he slipped on an icy sidewalk and had a hard time getting up. After a couple of days of soreness, he went to the hospital where they determined that he had a tumor around his spine. Doctors performed back surgery, removing the tumor, fusing a portion of the spine together, and strengthening the spine (which had been weakened by the cancer) with a rod and pins. They were going to start a (relatively) mild form of chemo. They expected a full recovery.
That surgery was five weeks ago, and he's been recovering at home, able to walk around in his home but not able to drive yet, or walk very far. He was expected to be done with most of the pain from the back surgery by week six.
A few days ago, he fell again, this time in his home, and started to feel sore.
I drove him to the emergency room today, and just learned that his spinal tumor has come back with a vengeance. It has grown as big as it was when they performed the operation five weeks ago.
I feel so defeated. It took so much strength to make it through the last operation, worrying about his health, dealing with all the things that need to be done with the business....
The talk tonight is that they will operate on his back again, maybe early next week. That could change. But what he's saying is that the surgery will be more extensive this time than last time, and that they might do radiation therapy quickly to try to tackle this.
It leaves me filled with question marks and worry. If the tumor came back with such a vengeance after just five weeks.....How can the poor guy handle a second nasty back surgery? He's been on so much pain medication from the last operation.
Uggggggh. I am numb.
Late last year, he started noticing problems in his back, and one day in December he slipped on an icy sidewalk and had a hard time getting up. After a couple of days of soreness, he went to the hospital where they determined that he had a tumor around his spine. Doctors performed back surgery, removing the tumor, fusing a portion of the spine together, and strengthening the spine (which had been weakened by the cancer) with a rod and pins. They were going to start a (relatively) mild form of chemo. They expected a full recovery.
That surgery was five weeks ago, and he's been recovering at home, able to walk around in his home but not able to drive yet, or walk very far. He was expected to be done with most of the pain from the back surgery by week six.
A few days ago, he fell again, this time in his home, and started to feel sore.
I drove him to the emergency room today, and just learned that his spinal tumor has come back with a vengeance. It has grown as big as it was when they performed the operation five weeks ago.
I feel so defeated. It took so much strength to make it through the last operation, worrying about his health, dealing with all the things that need to be done with the business....
The talk tonight is that they will operate on his back again, maybe early next week. That could change. But what he's saying is that the surgery will be more extensive this time than last time, and that they might do radiation therapy quickly to try to tackle this.
It leaves me filled with question marks and worry. If the tumor came back with such a vengeance after just five weeks.....How can the poor guy handle a second nasty back surgery? He's been on so much pain medication from the last operation.
Uggggggh. I am numb.
