Things You Need To Know About My Surgery

I am obviously worried, it is major surgery, it’s not like a simple procedure under the knife. I am having around 30% of my back and side cut into and dissected to find this cancer and all the horrible nasties attached!

Like it or lump it (no pun intended) I have to have the surgery, not just for my benefit but we will then have 6 surgeries to go off to understand the spread and how rapid it has grown and how it all works!

This pleomorphic sarcomatoid carcinoma is evil, it is not a nice thing at all. The growth rate is crazy, some tumours have grown in the matter of a few weeks and really taken hold of my body, it’s worrying how evil this thing has become.

It is so invasive and can now spread to any part of my body and really is making me incredibly sick!

What Will The Surgery Involve…

The surgery will be done over the course of 6 – 8 hrs and will be a box dissection of my lymphnodes, resection of all my original surgery sites and removal of all the latest horrible nasties.

That will increase the scar in my back to around 33cm, along with another huge scar down my side and in my arm pit.

Why Am I Putting Myself Through This If There Is No Cure…

Well wouldn’t you want to try everything you could to survive, the knowledge that could be gained from what I am doing could be incredibly valuable and could save lives in the future.

What Are The Risks…

There are many risks, the main one being death, closely followed by lymphedema (not a band). This is basically a build up of fluid in the area, there will be a drain attached to me for some time after surgery.

Then there is the massive risk of infection, that ones the biggest worry.

What Happens After Surgery…

We are working on the treatment plan now, through a mixture of research, using tried and tested techniques and the good old think known as hope. I am hoping it has not spread to much more in the past few months and we can at least for the best part contain it all, while we figure this all out.

What Do I Feel About It…

I am ok with it all, I made the decision, I chose the doctors, I chose the specialists. I am much more confident in the people who are working on this now. I am also working on this fulltime now to find answers which I am pretty sure people don’t realise as well.

A cure is not looking likely but we may be able to kick its ass into submission for a while if not for good!

As I always say here’s to hoping!

About PeeWeeToms

So what's the story? Well in 2015 I was diagnosed with a Sarcomatoid Carcinoma. To say the least it was aweful, I have managed to get through three years now with it coming back with vengance 4 times. On the 29th December 2017 I found it had likely spread. This is my dialogue with myself.

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2 Comments on “Things You Need To Know About My Surgery”

  1. This is incredible, Dan. Not only will this surgery help you understand what’s going on, but it hopefully will provide answers to those with this rare cancer type in the future. Hoping for the absolute best.

  2. Wow, Dan, this is truly massive. It’s understandable that you’re nervous. I’ve undergone similar procedures (all axillary lymph nodes removed plus excision of a 33×23 cm section of my back) but in two separate surgeries. But with your determination (and some good pain meds) I’m confident you will endure it all well. In fact, your post-op pain may be less than the pain from the tumors. And they’ll be GONE!! A good lymphedema therapist can help you prevent and manage lymphedema. Praying all goes well during and after your surgery, and hoping you get to drink loads of good COFFEE while you recover! ☕️☕️☕️

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