...with my team earlier this month, I continued to have significant and increasingly severe back pain. Scans had shown a small lesion on my spinal column so I brought it up to my team. My treatment team is very attentive so they did a physical exam and ordered some non-narcotic pain medicine to help me recover. They believed it was most likely from a gym injury. I tried that for a week then some stronger painkillers for another week. I noticed the pain gradually feeling more severe. 

On Monday April 22, my oncology team suggested I should report to the emergency department for pain relief and possibly emergency surgery to relieve the pressure the tumor was possibly creating. My doctors coordinated an emergency bed for me so I was able to get in right away and have some very strong painkillers along with more imaging. At this point, the pain was all I could think about so it is a bit of a blur. I was lucky to have Andrew there with me helping me through it. I was admitted to the hospital. 

Further imaging showed the tumor that was located in then bone of the spinal column grew significantly over the matter of a few weeks. The previous plan was to have a minimally invasive procedure done to remove part of the tumor and then finish the rest of tumor off with radiation before returning to chemotherapy. With the increased size of the tumor, the treatment team decided to operate as soon as possible. 

I had the surgery Thursday, April 25. The surgery went about six hours. Overall, the surgery went well. However, once they began the procedure they were able to see that the tumor was larger than that which was on the imaging. Instead of a procedure involving two vertebra, it was a more serious procedure of, involving my t-8 through L1 or about 6 vertebrae. Due to the increased size of the tumor, I needed to have several vertebra fused together. The incision needed about 76 staples to close and I lost 2 liters of blood during the procedure. 

I woke up in the intensive care unit hours after the surgery in the worst pain I have ever experienced. It took a lot of time and care from the folks in the unit before my level 10 pain was able to get down to a 7. I only spent one part of one night in the ICU. The eight days that I spent in the hospital were primarily in the post-op neurosurgical unit. I have been so blessed to be able to work with incredibly knowledgable and compassionate staff. There are no words to be able to thank them enough. 

Monday, April 30 I was finally able to discharge home with a back brace and a walker. The back brace will be supporting me for the next 6 weeks. On May 17th I have an appointment to remove the staples in my back. After the staples are removed, a specialized radiation will be directed what is left of the lesion in my spinal column. After radiation treatment, the plan is to re-start Xeloda chemotherapy. 

Over the next few weeks I am focusing on recovering from the procedure and preparing to continue to move forward in fighting that cancer.

Thank you all for the love and concern you have shown us through all this chaos!

<3 Dany