A Monkey Wrench and Pre-Op!

A few days after the Patient Symposium, I heard from the mother of a teenage desmoid tumor patient. Our stories were eerily similar, and she called to tell me about a new procedure that was being used called cryoablation. Cryoablation is basically a procedure where a long hollow needle is inserted into the area of the tumor and the tumor cells are "frozen" and die. This patient had great success with the procedure, and almost no pain. It's also an outpatient procedure, so way less recovery time is required. There is a doctor at Memorial Sloan-Kettering who has been a bit of a pioneer in regards to cryoablation and desmoid tumors. This all sounded promising, but my surgery was only 2 weeks away, and I'd been mentally and physically preparing for months! Plus there was no long term data on the treatment, and these tumors are notorious for recurring.

I ended up speaking to my surgeon at Sloan-Kettering and asking for his advice. He hadn't heard anything about cryoablation for desmoid tumors and promised to look into it for me. I heard back from him a few days later. He basically said that the technique sounded very promising, but it was determined that I was not a candidate for cryoablation because the tumor was too close to my skin. The doctor actually used the words "you're too skinny for this procedure." ha! Words I will never, ever forget. :) So basically, the surgery was on as scheduled.

I had my pre-op appointment yesterday. I've been super nervous about the surgery and the pre-op helped a little bit. The hospital runs like a well oiled machine, and they answered all of my questions. I am expected to be in the hospital for 3-4 days, then have 6 weeks off of work, and a full 3 months until my tissue graft is fully healed 100%. I am getting an epidural for pain because I'm having a chest tube and drainage tube again. More rib will be taken out and the doctor expects to obtain clean margins, which means no more tumor cells.

So here we are! The surgery is on Thursday. I am as ready as I'll ever be (and pretty scared too). I packed my bag today with all my sweats and stuff for the hospital, and I'll have to pack some books too.

My next post will have some pre-op pictures, then after the surgery I'll post some post-op ones to show the scars and no more lumpus!!

xoxo,
Sue