[Nfb-or] Update on cancer

[linjaynes]

Joseph: Thank you for update & please know you are still very much in our prayer's.  Rest ,try not to stress[easier said than done] all our best thoughts & vibes are coming towards you. Lin & Jesse


-----Original Message-----
>From: "T. Joseph Carter" <carter.tjoseph at gmail.com>
>Sent: Jul 15, 2010 8:36 PM
>To: nfb-or at nfbnet.org, nfb-talk at nfbnet.org
>Subject: [Nfb-or] Update on cancer
>
>Hi everyone,
>
>Some of the major details seem to be suffering from a game of 
>telephone, so before giving an update I probably need to recap the 
>major details:  On June 21st, I was diagnosed with a soft tissue 
>sarcoma, a pretty rare form of cancer most doctors have never seen, 
>and therefore don't recognize when they encounter it.
>
>I'm finding that many soft tissue sarcoma survivors have stories 
>about the medical adventure around trying to treat whatever the 
>doctors thought they were dealing with before they discovered the 
>cancer.  I was no exception, with doctors cutting a hole in my right 
>lower back to remove the "cyst" or "abscess" this was thought to be.
>
>So by the time it was diagnosed on the 21st, the tumor had grown to 
>fill the hole, and had begun growing out of it!  So, 32 days after my 
>32nd birthday, there I am calling the sarcoma specialist's office in 
>a panic.  We did what we could do dress the tumor until we could 
>arrange the tests needed to determine the best treatment approach, 
>which turned out to begin with surgery.
>
>I had that on the 8th, where the doctors cut out a blob roughly the 
>size of a six inch cube.  I was only released from the hospital 
>today after issue related to this thing I've got called a wound vac.  
>Basically they left part of the operating site open and put a vacuum 
>sealed dressing over it that connects to a machine that constantly 
>drains it.  This reduces the mess and chances for infection a bit, 
>but requires care and feeding of the machine.  Plus dressing changes 
>hurt a LOT, but that'd be true regardless of the vac!
>
>We have the pathology results back, and thankfully the tissue around 
>the edges of the blob has no sign of cancer cells!  I'm still on 
>heavy pain medication, so you can expect me not to be great 
>conversation if you tried to call me right now!
>
>I'll be staying here a home quite a bit then to recover.  I don't 
>plan to go anywhere for while, and then just the doctor's office.
>
>That's all for now!  Take care everyone!
>
>Joseph
>
>
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