Much earlier than I had expected, 14 October 2010 will be the day that my surgery takes place at St George Hospital in Sydney. The surgical team, having assessed my chemotherapy schedule, have offered me an early opportunity for the cytoreduction/peritonectomy/HIPEC surgery. The proximity gives me little time to catch my breath, let alone to put on some more weight and improve my fitness, but it is the best possible opportunity if I am to have the most successful outcome.My chemotherapy is now over, at least in the pre-operative sense. Miang and I will travel over to Sydney a couple of days beforehand. If all goes to plan, I should have a recovery period of about three weeks, including a few days in Intensive Care immediately following surgery. There is always the risk that surgery may not proceed, due to discovery, in the operating theatre, of more extensive disease than anticipated. And there are significant risks of side effects ("morbidities"), which complicate recovery. Nothing about this type of surgery is routine or straightforward, but I have the utmost confidence in the team. They have performed hundreds of these operations over the past six years.
If all goes well dur
ing surgery and recovery, I will face the next, longer term phase, involving discovery of the degree to which the process has been effective in eliminating the disease. My odds, based on radiological assessment of the level of disease, are around 50% 5 year survival. The graph shows typical international data (PCI stands for Peritoneal Carcinoma Index. Mine is about 6)Many people have expressed concern about the rather aggressive nature of the surgery. (For further information see http://www.peritonectomy.com/index.html). I agree that it is hard to contemplate, but then, all surgery is, by its nature, hard to contemplate. Further, I do have the advantage of being under general anesthetic. For family members in attendance and waiting, the experience is hard. For me, the period under anesthetic involves an absence of awareness, an odd phenomenon which I experienced during my bowel surgery in 2008. My focus must be singular. On emerging from theatre I have to do all in my power to recover.
Given the good news on the CEA front, to quickly follow up with surgery seems to me (as a critical thinker but non-expert) like a smart strategy. This surgery will be a challenge no matter how one looks at it, but since there is no way around it... "If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well it were done quickly."
ReplyDeleteWhen I think of mental focus I think of it like a tennis player preparing for a big game. He reviews over and over in his mind the perfect shots and sees himself winning the match. Which may or may not apply to dealing with invasive surgery. But no matter how poorly the sporting analogy might hold, you can count on your fans to be cheering you all the way from the sidelines.
Vanessa--You have worded it perfectly!!!
ReplyDeleteHere here!! Shaun and I are massive fans and we're waiting with baited breath for the next victory to celebtrate. Lots of love V&S
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