Some of you know I was offline for a bit this week for surgery. What you didn't know (and what I didn't know until about 2 hours ago) is that the surgery has uncovered cancer.

I'm intentionally using "c" cancer and not "C" Cancer because 6 months ago the biopsies I had done were pre-cancerous with no sign of cancer proper.

So, whatever it is, it developed in the last 6 months and I take that as a good sign.

From here I need to focus on doing what the docs tell me to do starting with blood tests tomorrow, then we're doing genetic stuff and a CT scan, that will tell us the official "stage" of the cancer.

My plan is to come back, but it won't be immediate and I don't (yet) have any sort of timeline. My ideas are probably more aggressive than the doctors and insurance will allow. 😉

So I'm planning on the worst, doing paperwork, advanced directives, all the stuff you don't usually have to think about. Then we'll see where it goes.

I wish Lemmy all the luck in the world!

Edit

OK - met with the surgeon. At a minimum it's stage 2 (invasive) with the potential for stage 3 (in the lymph nodes).

We won't know until they remove the sigmoid colon (all of it) and the related lymph nodes and have it all checked.

Scheduler is going to call me, right now it's looking like 3 to 5 weeks out, so late Feb. or early March.

Potential to move me up because cancer patients have priority.

If it's stage 2, no further action needed, surgery fixes it.

If it's stage 3, that requires chemotherapy, but we won't know that until after the surgery.

Edit 2

Surgery is scheduled for 2/19. It was going to be 2/11, but they decided they need more time to review the drugs I'm on and figure out which ones to stop and when.

Edit 3

Doing the last bits of surgery prep tonight, reporting to the hospital tomorrow. Estimate is 3 days in then back home.

Edit 4

Edit 5

Surgery on the 19th went well, I have 4 laparoscopic scars on my belly and it seems well contained. But if I cough, it's like I want to die.

Day 1 - 3 were kind of tough with all the tubes running in and out of me, it all dramatically improved on day 4 with removing the catheter.

Apparently they were confused why someone with a heparin blood thinner drip would be bleeding internally in their urethra. I'm like "Hey, I'm no doctor, but maybe the catheter has something to do with that?" 🤔

They were worried about blood clots blocking urine flow and didn't want to remove the catheter only to have to put it back in.

Saner heads prevailed, the catheter was removed, and the bleeding stopped immediately. No worries on the bathroom front, all clear and blood free!

Plan is to cut me loose in the morning! Just in time to visit my wife on her rehab ward for a 5 hour caregiver training.

Training I won't immediately be able to do because, surgery, but good to have it for when I am able!

Now, we wait for lab results for the cancer stage. Minimum stage 2, which is why we did the surgical intervention.

If it somehow got into the lymph system, that's stage 3 and I'll be back in for chemo.

Results take 5-7 days from the 19th soooo ... 2/24 to 2/26 we'll get the word on that!

Sorry to throw this on everyone in the group, but there has been another mod shakeup and it feels fair to address it publicly.

MightBe has been removed as mod from both World News and Politics.

I also unpinned and removed their rule change posts.

The too long; didn't read is they were pretty hostile in messages to both myself and little cow, and when asked to join back channel discussions in chat, refused, and instead made unilateral decisions without group discussion.

Moderating a group like this needs to be a collaborative experience, no single voice should be establishing rules without some form of common agreement.

They not only refused to engage in that collaboration, but did so in a manner not fitting for being the new person on the team.

And it is a team. I tend to make more public posts than others, because I value the transparency over privacy, but when I do so, it's a result of a nice private chat among the group.

For now, their rule changes have been removed from both Politics and World News. Back to the stated way of doing business:

World News is for all News OUTSIDE the United States, that's what the normal "News" is for.

Politics is for US Politics - Somehow I doubt that's going to be an issue in 2024.

There ARE things the mod team is discussing, and any rule changes will be made as a group effort, and (hopefully!) for the better health of the group and ALL of our participants!

Happy New Year!

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