Cancer Free!!!!!!!!!

I was released from the Hospital today and am back at my Parent's house in OH.

The best news of the day, though, was the pathology results of the surgery........I AM CANCER FREE!!!!!!! I am finished with all treatment - no more surgery, no more chemo!!!!!!

I still need to adhere to a strict follow-up regimen. Since I had surgery, I just need to have chest X-rays and blood tests for tumor markers on a regular basis.

The Surgery was brutal and painful (and still is.....) As you can see from the scar, they split me from my sternum to my pelvis. On the Left side, they removed the rest of my vas defrens, spermatic chord, all nerves and blood vessels associated with the removed testicle, and 18 - 20 lymph nodes. On the Right side, all the nerves were carefully spared and 18 - 20 lymph nodes were removed. Oh yea, I forgot to mention that the nodes are underneath all of my organs - intestines, colon, liver, etc., so those organs were removed from my body and placed on my chest during this procedure......

As a result of the cutting, stretching, organ removal and replacement, lymph node dissection procedure blah blah blah, I was in for some serious P-A-I-N. Before they sedated me, they inserted an epidural. Basically, this consists of a HUGE needle stuck into my spinal column (for you ladies out there who have given birth, it's the same pain management process.) I can't even describe how much it hurt just to get the needle properly inserted (on the 3rd try by the way.)

It was the best decision I made!!!!! The pain was manageable......I only realized how manageable WHEN THEY TOOK IT OUT.....The motivation for taking it out was that my cathedar could not be removed as long as the epidural was in place. WHAT A DILEMMA!!!!! Having a tube up my Johnson was not a good feeling at all....I lasted until Sunday.

I'll write more later but for now, it's nap time - I'm BEAT......

CIAO,
Mr. Clean with a big scar