The Low Point.

     I firmly believe that you can't have a high point unless you have a low point. Otherwise everything would just be flat. So I am going to start this blog off with my low point. However, since this is a blog about my high points, this will be the only post I make on this page. This is my low point.

    Four years ago I was diagnosed with Giant Cell Tumor Disease.  The tumor was on my thoracic spine which made things more complicated than they usually would be. I had two spinal surgeries that year to remove the tumor. Two years later, during my annual scan, the doctor found that the tumor had returned and I was told that it was malignant. The tumor was large enough it was affecting my lungs, heart and aorta. The doctors tried to remove it, but found that if they removed the tumor I would die. I underwent radiation treatment, but that did not help. I was then told that they would try some different chemo drugs, but they did not expect the medication to help.
     I requested a second opinion, and was sent to the Mayo clinic. There I was told that they had some techniques that could make the surgery safer, but they did not think that I would survive the surgery. I was told that the best that could be done was to control my pain and make me as comfortable as possible.
     I returned home and received a call from my doctor and was told that we had received approval for what was still considered an experimental treatment for my illness. I was willing to try anything. The drug was Denosumab. After a year and a half on the drug the tumor had shrunk 80% of its original size, I was ready for surgery.
     The surgery, Sept 26, 2011, was complicated, the tumor had moved into my lung and my aorta. Part of my right lung had to be removed as well as part of my esophagus and a rib. It seemed that everything had gone well, unfortunately a few days after surgery things started to go wrong. I had to be put into a medically induced coma and woke up a few days later with a trach and tubes coming out of everywhere. I was later told that there was a few times the doctors where unsure if I was going to make it. However, I have better things to do than die right now. Instead of the 7 -10 days planned, I spent a month and a half in the hospital and a week after I was discharged I developed a severe case of pneumonia. That got me two more weeks in the hospital.
     Fortunately the doctors think that they got all of the tumor out this time. It also seems that the medication caused the tumor to move out of the aorta and the tumor that they had found in my lung was completely dead. When I returned home I was 45 pounds less than what I was before the surgery and still in severe pain for several months. I have only recently stopped using the oxygen and my pain level has decreased significantly.
     I hope that this will have been the last of this tumor and surgeries, but I have no idea what the future holds. Cancer is a tricky illness because each type is different and each person responds differently to treatments. But maybe someday there will be enough understood about cancer that we can get rid of it for good.
      These past few years have been very difficult on myself and my family. And I have learned just how short life can be. Everything can be ripped away from you without a moments notice. So from here on out I will be focusing on all the high points that I experience. Whether it is an emotion, physical or geographical high point. They are all worth celebrating. We never know if it the last high point we will ever have.