Lights, camera...what is that?

It was supposed to be a 20-minute outpatient procedure. A camera guided biopsy that was ordered because it looked like a recurrence of breast cancer that had been diagnosed and treated in 2017. When I woke up in a hospital bed and saw that white board I am not going to lie, there was a four-letter word uttered, as in "what the <bleep> happened?"

My stomach had not been where it was supposed to be, under my ribs. It was stuck to something sticky on my abdominal wall. When the camera was poked into the abdominal wall it poked right into my stomach. The doctor knew right away he was looking into my stomach, so he had to make an emergency incision and repair the hole. To make sure the repair was holding up, he had to put in an NG tube (goes in the nose, down the throat, and into the stomach) and I went without food or drink (including COFFEE) for five days. Holy headache. The repair held up great, so the tube and surgical drain came out, and I was released from the hospital.

About a week later I received the diagnosis of peritoneal mesothelioma, a rare aggressive cancer with a very poor prognosis. After searching online and seeing the statistics, I immediately started thinking of what I needed to do to prepare my family for when I was no longer here and what I was going to do with my short time left.

Within a week I saw a specialist that my oncologist had referred me to who discussed surgery and HIPEC. He said I was an excellent candidate for surgery. He answered every question and gave me details about what would happen. The holidays were coming up, so in my mind I thought let's have a great holiday season in case these are my last. I asked him if the surgery had to be done right away or if I had time and his question was "do you have something bigger going on?" He went on to say if I did not do surgery and HIPEC I would not be around more than 12-18 months. He said, "Let's do this surgery now, and you may have to skip this year's holiday celebrations, but we will make sure you are around for many more!" He gave me hope.

The day of surgery, an hour after it began, the surgeon came out to the waiting area to tell my family that the cancer was everywhere. He requested permission to use his judgement and take everything out that looked suspicious. During an 8 hour surgery, the surgeon made a 12-inch incision, removed my omentum, my peritoneal lining, both ovaries, a section of my colon, part of my diaphragm and part of my liver. Everything he took out later tested positive for mesothelioma. The surgery is called debulking. After the surgery I was loosely stitched up and warm chemo was pumped into my abdomen. My body was jiggled around for the warm chemo to slosh around and kill any remaining cancer cells too small for the naked eye to see. I later found out that HIPEC is called "shake and bake". It is a perfect description, and I can laugh about that now.

I was in the hospital for five days. I had the very best care. After going home, I rested and recovered. I couldn't eat or move very much. I had to sit up on the couch because I couldn't lay flat or on my side. I lost 30 pounds. I was weak and tired easily. The pain was unbearable sometimes. Showering sometimes took all the energy I had for the day.

It has now been almost a year. It has flown by and slowly creeped along at the same time. Recovery is still ongoing, but I am ALIVE! I am free of disease. I am grateful. I have received a miracle.