Update on my mom

Thank you for all your prayers and positive vibes for my mom. She's doing well, recovering nicely from her surgery on Wednesday and is good spirits. As a result of the surgery, I've got good news and bad news.

The surgery itself went really well. Dr. P removed her uterus, ovaries and tubes. He examined the cyst on her one ovary and it was benign. He took a good look around, examining her lymph nodes and other organs and almost everything looked good. So that's the good news. Her incision site is smaller than anticipated and nothing gynaecological is cancerous. Yippee!

Before I get into the rest of the news, I have to back up the story a little. My mom experienced some back pain this summer, at which time she started seeing a procession of doctors and having a multitude of tests related to her kidney. The end diagnosis - a completely blocked ureter (the tube that runs from the kidney to the bladder), which is most likely cancerous.

The last doctor she saw, a urological oncologist, indicated he needed to perform a scope under general anaesthersia to confirm the cancer diagnosis and determine what type of surgery he needed to perform. So Dr. P coordinated with this doctor (Dr. C) to do them both on Wednesday, with the hope that Dr. C could do his scope and then also do the required surgery at the same time.

Unfortunately, that didn't happen. Dr. C sent a fellow (a more junior doctor who is studying to specialize in urological oncology) to do the scope (a cystoscopy) and get a biopsy of the tumour. So that's the bad news - everything wasn't done in one surgery.

While the tumour is big - enlarging her ureter to the size of a sausage as opposed to the diameter of a pen - it seems to be completely contained within her ureter. Tests run on her bladder and lymph nodes indicate it hasn't spread, which is phenomenal. While she'll need a scope every year to check her bladder, the cancer is contained.

So she has to undergo another surgery in six weeks (boo) to remove her kidney, which died from being blocked, and her ureter. But the surgery is the only treatment she'll need (yay!). She won't need chemotherapy, radiation or any other cancer treatment.

While the news she'll need a second major operation was disheartening, the fact that her cancer is contained and can be treated through surgery alone was a huge relief.

Her appointment to see Dr. C (in four weeks) is supposed to be scheduled before she leaves the hospital, and her surgery booked approximately six weeks from now - after she's recovered from this surgery.

Yes, it's crappy to have to recover from two major surgeries, but then it should be over. I know I was extremely relieved to hear the news about her ureter.

So, in late January or early February, I may once again ask you to say a little prayer for my mom as she goes under the knife again.

On a side note, I got to tour the cancer research labs while my mom was under. Very, very cool place. Watch for the blog in the next few days and I'll try to recount (and remember) all the interesting information I learned.

Thanks again for all your good wishes. It's awesome that all of you who have supported me during my struggle with cancer can also send positive vibes to my mom as she contends with hers.

Happy Friday,
Tina