We went to Dr. Weissman's office this morning for a post-op visit. The highlight of the visit was having my 32 piercings removed and replaced with tape. I didn't think they were that bad but it is interesting (and probably not surprising) how much more comfortable you are once they remove 32 staples from your gut.
The rest of the visit concerned follow up steps and the plans for future visits. He gave me the option of talking with Dr. Crossland, or any other doctor, to investigate further treatment but he doesn't think there really is anything to do. Dr. Weissman is confident that they got all of the cancer in the kidney, and that it was confined to the kidney and that all of the lymph nodes they took out along the right side were clean. They can't say "you're 100% clean", though, because there is always a possibility that some microscopic cancer skipped all of the nearby lymph nodes and organs and went somewhere else to set up shop. It is really unlikely, but possible.
So the next steps are to come back every six months for the next five years and get a chest X-Ray each time, and then a CAT scan or a liver test on alternating visits. If I am still clear after five years, they call me cured. If something pops up, well, we go deal with that. Lather, rinse, repeat.
Everything else in life can start ramping up again though the big limitation is no heavy lifting for 6 weeks from the date of surgery. The definition of heavy lifting is a little vague - I've heard of limits as low as 5 pounds - but since my laptop weighs 6.8 pounds, I'm going to put the limit closer to 10 which seems a lot simpler than having to go out and buy a new laptop.
Driving - as soon as I feel I can safely turn the steering wheel hard and slam on the brakes if I need to.
Work - ease back into it, I'll get tired pretty easily but no big physical limitations
Alcohol - no prob, but not with any narcotics
Ibuprofen - never. Ibuprofen, and all NSAIDS are kidney toxic. Now that I'm down to one, I need to be extra careful on this front.
With that, we said "see ya in 6 months" and left the hospital and this first act of the mutant kidney comes to a close. Oh sure, there is lots of healing still to come, and a perpetual possibility of intestinal blockages now that they've been futzed with but in general, I'm starting back on the on-ramp to regular ol' life (changes notwithstanding) and I am quite happy to be there.
Dude, you just kicked cancer's ass! What are you going to do?
Response: "I'm going to buy a MacBook Air"!!
I think you've earned it!
Posted by: Katie Dubois | January 17, 2008 at 07:27 PM
Heheeeee! Macbook Air is a wonderful post-op solution. Be careful on heavy bags to carry it with though. Better stick with an envelope :-)
Posted by: Pat | January 17, 2008 at 11:34 PM
Chris, hopefully you get this as I am a fledgling blogger. We have been reading with great interest and pulling for you. So happy you have made it through and are back home getting back to normal life (with, of course, healthier habits, etc.).
See you soon.
Posted by: Jon Frey | January 18, 2008 at 06:07 AM
HEY! READ CLOSER! He said he's NOT going to get a Macbook Air!!!
Sheesh, stop encouraging him, you guys!
Posted by: LIEvans | January 18, 2008 at 07:28 AM
hey, bionic one. - hook some of those staples into an itouch and boogie. The new software is really cool.
Posted by: bruce evans | January 18, 2008 at 08:36 AM
Hello Chris,
You obviously have faced this issue with great courage, though it happened so fast maybe you didn't have time to get too uptight. I prefer to think you just have guts ( no pun intended ). I jwould want you in my trench if we were in a war together.
So, no skiing this season, it looks like, but should be ready for golf. Hopefully we can do somewhere this year.
I followed this blog evolution with great facination. Being an old fart, and a blog neophyte, it is amazing how well the process works, and what a relief to see chapter one end so positively.
Posted by: Uncle Toby | January 20, 2008 at 08:26 AM