My brother's cancer surgery went ok, no dramas during and he's now back home. The tumour was on his lower leg and skin grafts have been taken from the upper leg to repair the tumour excision site. Will have to wait for the biopsies and pathology though, although the surgeon believes he got it all with a 2cm clear area. My brother says his leg looks like a shark chewed it!
Now have to wait til about Friday when all has been sliced and diced and examined by pathology and consulting with gurus, then future prognosis and treatment might be clearer. I've joined a leiomyosarcoma online support group so I can stay up to date with recent research, treatment and clinical trial info - this particular sarcoma is a female dog, incredibly rare and on a nastiness scale of 1 to 10....well, a REAL female dog.
Spoke to my sister in law, everyone is pretty fragile, but holding up. I guess it's the waiting that's so hard. Am so glad I had already made a decision about retiring early next year and "travelling North"......it seems now that there was a far more important reason than I knew at the time I made the decision to run away and be a geriatric hippie...
And yes, I've changed my profile pic. Because a lot of us have decided to show ourselves as we really are right now, my last pic was from that lovely Sydney meetup a couple of weeks ago and yes, I really was happy and it showed. Not quite the current situation so have decided to retreat inside my lovely electric blue cat for a while.....
Thank you again for your thoughts and prayers
xox"
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Comments
1 July 2009 - 12:22pm — Gail
Hi piratejenny
It does sound positive for your brother. I can imagine that it has been a shock for his family and the waiting would be electric. I like your cat profile. When these things happen so close to us it emphasises the fact that we should be out there doing what we most enjoy as our time here is not unlimited. I have known too many people who have recently died from different forms of cancer and of different ages, 4, 33, 45, 57,62. The last one a 45 year old woman was a week after a 57 year old woman and they were quite close friends. It rocked us a bit. It is so scary when it is so close. I am trying to stay positive and have told it to stay away from me. I hope it turns out well for you.
1 July 2009 - 3:21pm — Ren
Glad to hear that the surgery went well Jenny, it's good that his surgeon believes he got it all. I hope he gets a positive report once all the testing is done.
1 July 2009 - 6:39pm — Nick
I understand how you feel about wanting to retreat and hide your photo, I did for a bit but have now shown myself again. I guess when the time is right you will feel up to showing us your lovely smile again
Very glad to hear the op went well. must be having a slow day as I was a bit confused at first by your "female dog" comment then remembered the alternate name lol, suddenly it all made sence.
Keep strong, your doing well.
1 July 2009 - 8:30pm — sez
What a bugger! Lots of hugs are coming to u PJ,
Love Sez x
1 July 2009 - 8:49pm — Steve
Hope all goes well fellow thespian. I am attending the fast slide night of Miss Saigon on Saturday. Thinking of you and your family you hippie.
1 July 2009 - 10:58pm — JellyC55
Dear PJ, glad that your brother is back home...fingers crossed that you get good news from the specialist in the coming weeks...