Do You Want to Live?

When I met with my oncologist to discuss my course of action following surgery, staple removal and the full biopsy report, he informed me that I wouldn’t need chemo or radiation. I was happy to learn this. He explained to me that all of the cancer had been removed from my body during my first surgery when the tumor was removed. Unfortunately, because my OBGYN did not know what she would find during the surgery, when the tumor was removed some of the tissue surrounding the tumor broke. This could allow cancer cells to leak into the abdomen and pelvis and is called surgical spill, which is reason to be concerned. Because of this I was initially diagnosed at stage 1 which later turned into stage 1C. He stated that my course of action would include following up with blood tests every three months to test levels of inhibin A & B. Unbeknownst to me, prior to surgery they had tested these levels and noticed that they were higher and so thought that this would be a good indicator to detect if cancer was present. In addition to the blood test they gave me a CT Scan immediately and once a year from that point on he wants me to have a CT scan for a baseline comparison. In the event anything ever shows up again they will have an idea of how things looked right after surgery and how it looks now.

 At this same time my doctor asked me if I wanted to live. I wondered why he would ask me this because, of course, I did. He then said I was going to have to make some changes. The changes included my eating habits. He suggested I get on a 1200 calorie diet. I asked about working out when the time came and he said he didn’t think that was all that important. He was focused on my eating. He said if I wanted to live I had to lose weight. This was easy for the time being because I was still on a restricted diet from surgery, but I ultimately knew I needed to make changes but wasn’t sure how easy this would be to do on my own.