Uhhh...

Uhhhh... is the state my brain has been in since yesterday.

Yesterday my doc informed me that, even though my tumor is not cancerous, he still wants to remove my left rectus abdominis muscle. (Yeah, I have a tumor so I'm learning big words now) ha! Anyways, that's my whole left ab muscle. Uhhhh....

Shoot! There I go again.

He's going to replace it with mesh to keep my bowels in and so the tissue has something to attach and grow to. Uhhh.....

I'm scared.

Brandi convinced me to get a second opinion. So, I'm going on Friday. My surgery is scheduled for Tuesday. After the research I did, I don't think I'll need to cancel the surgery. =( The type of tumor I have is a desmoid tumor. It is a tumor that is not cancerous, but just grows and grows and there is no known cause. It's a pretty rare tumor that is only found in about 900 Americans annually. It is mostly found in woman that have had children or are pregnant. Some grow slow, some grow fast. If my doctor does not get all the tissue out, there is a 70% chance it will grow back. That is why he is recommending taking the whole muscle. I read some stories of people needing multiple surgeries because their doc only took out the tumor or part of the muscle. Uhhhh.... 


So, anyways, I went to pick up my medical records today for my second opinion on Friday. I drew a diagram of the measurements. Now, I'm not sure about the thickness of 4.2cm (see diagram). That part was described as AP dimension on the records and I couldn't find a clear definition of what that meant. Anyone know??

So take a look for yourself. I don't know about you, but I am pretty shocked!

click for actual size

Uhhhhhh.....