Cycle #4

Today is day #18 of my 4th cycle of chemotherapy. I received my infusions as an inpatient from May 29 through June 2 and, other than having to stay in the hospital for five days, it wasn't so unpleasant. Maybe I'm getting used to this??

Last week was busy. I saw my plastic surgeon and surgical oncologist on Tuesday; the plan at that point was to have my surgery on June 30 (3 weeks away). However, when all the doctors met on Wednesday, my medical oncologist felt that I'd be healthy enough for surgery sooner than this (because my blood counts have been recovering well after each cycle of chemotherapy). My surgeon had an opening on July 16 (tomorrow), so I got a call on Wednesday afternoon asking if I'd be available for surgery in five days! Not having anything better to do, I said yes.

So, I'm going in tomorrow morning for surgery at 9:15. An MRI last week showed the tumor in the skin and fat over my left hip/butt. The plan is to remove an approximately 10 centimeter diameter region of skin (a little smaller than a CD), the underlying fat, the fascia covering the gluteus maximus muscle, and a few millimeters of underlying muscle. The plastic surgeon will then rearrange some skin to cover the defect. As surgery goes, this should be a relatively minor procedure (around 2-3 hours overall). I'll be staying in the hospital until later this week.

Certainly, we're very excited to finally get this removed. I should be up and walking in the evening after surgery and we're expecting around five weeks until I can start chemotherapy again.

This is a long road and we're so very appreciative of everyone's support and prayers. As material evidence of how good your food's been, I've gained ten pounds since starting treatment!