Another Doctor gets sick...
No amount of medical school and training prepared me for the night I viewed those first two images before any other doctor. Ron Irwin, MD, taught "if it's bigger than 5 cm, and it's deep, it's bad." Well it was. I had cancer.
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I had my fight. My children were not going to grow up without Dad. The tumor had attacked an orthopedic surgeon, what a mistake. If the radiation wouldn't fry it, the surgeon would cut out. If the surgeon couldn't cut out, the oncologist would use a chemical weapon. The tumor had a 100% chance of dying. I still thought I was going to die.
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I found Arthur Frazier, MD. He helped me find Mike Mott, MD. I also found Melissa Zimmel, MD who helped me find Andy Knechtl, DO. I found Linda Kosal, DO. She is still my doctor today. Those are my doctors, they saved my life. Hospitals are buildings. There are no good or bad hospitals. There are only good or bad people who work in them. Find good people, regardless of where they work.
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I started by reading as much as I could on my tumor. Fear of dying really motivates. I read things from respected journals as well as blogs from patients. I usually learned something from everything I read. I thought of questions for my doctors and kept them in my phone for the next appointment. I kept working right up until surgery. Some people don't know how I could have operated. I honestly had no fear when performing surgery. It helped me to forget for a little while that my problem was worse than any of my patient's problems. Being a surgeon is a lot easier than being a patient.
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I got a second opinion from a major cancer center in New York, which did not differ from the opinions at home. I rested easier knowing I was doing all that everyone could think of doing.
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I got 25 radiation treatments from Dr Frazier to my left pelvis, all the way to my left calf. I had a nice sunburn behind my knee 10 days after treatment was done. I also fancied the 1 legged scrub pant, as did a few of my friends. This was the easiest part of recovery.
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On September 12, 2016, Dr Mott removed that 4.5 kilo (9.9#) monster from my leg. He got margins everywhere possible. If you don't know what that means, it means he did a good job. My surgery was Tuesday, I was home Friday evening with a wound vac. This part was more difficult than radiation, but I was familiar with surgery ( I had removed a couple of hamstring tumors with Dr Irwin), and recovery from it.
I took zero - none, narcotics after surgery. I was more afraid to use narcotics and then not be able to understand what was going on. Besides, they make me vomit, and I would rather hurt than have nausea. I woke up in my hopsital bed with a leaking foley and the nurse addressing me as "Mr Church." My leg hurt, but I didn't want what Mr Church was getting, and apparently I was the only one making sure of that. I took some lyrica. I walked ... alot. I hurt the first couple of days, and then I felt almost no pain by 2 weeks.
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After surgery, I started feeling a little more hopeful. Then the pathology on my tumor reported I had the really bad kind of bad tumor (30% round cell myxoid liposarcoma). I needed Chemo. Chemo would raise my survival rate by 4%. Wow ... 4%.
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Dr Knechtl and Dr Kosal some how managed compassion for an orthopedic surgeon with autistic tendencies who was now taking steroids on chemotherapy. I do not remember everything I said or did on chemo. I know I was jogging in the hallways and pushing an IV pole. They got me a treadmill, and I walked and ran 13 miles in one day. I had blisters to prove it. I found that exercise made the nausea go away for a while. I remember a gastroenterologist shared a story about a family member with cancer while my wife stood by dressed in a fairy outfit for Halloween. I remember my arm hurting at my picc site while I was hanging Christmas lights on a ladder. I remember not saying sorry or thank you enough, especially to the nurses on 5 south who cared for me.
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On my chemo, I spent a week in the hospital, a week at home afterward puking and sleeping (and walking), and a week feeling better dreading going back. I did that 4 times over 14 weeks. This was the hardest part.
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I got some scans and a biopsy afterward. Everything negative for recurrence. I started work 1 month after chemo stopped. My hair came back at 4 months. My eyebrows fell out 2 months after, my toenails fell off 5 months after. Now, I can run, work, and I have stood in the operating room for 12 hours on multiple occassions. So far, I am surviving cancer.
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There is another doctor, Steven Fadem, MD, who had this tumor in his leg and lungs. I have never met him. His story was motivating for me when I first found out I had cancer. He has a lot of tips from protecting your veins from lab techs to exercise. Here is the link.
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