Blogging has always been a area of interest and yet confusion for me. I have always been intrigued by the idea, but doubted that there would be anything worthwhile to say. Now that I am trying to slow down a little and recover from back surgery, I thought I'd start a blog to share my experience and keep those who wanted to know updated...so I tried to start a blog page with the title "Time to Slow Down". I was told it was not available, so I chose another title, "The Red Oven Mitten" from my adventure last Christmas on the corner of Mather and Broadway with a red oven mitten...a story for later. Google accepted that title and I though I was off and running. I opened up the blog page to post and there was the original title that was NOT available as my blog title....hence the confusion piece. I tell you, I am smart, and even once was studying to be a computer programmer...but technology got too far ahead of me too fast and I am racing to catch up...not exactly the way to slow down!
I had a large neurofibroma tumor that had started around the sciatic nerve root at the base of my spine. Probably something like 10-12 years ago. It is benign, but does enlarge over time. As it grew, it twined its way around the nerve and travelled through the S1 foreman in my sacrum. Imagine the triangular fused bits of spine between your articulated (moveable) vertebrae and your tailbone. The S1 foreman is the hole in the sacrum through which the sciatic nerve passes on its way to the leg and elsewhere. As this tumor grew along the nerve, it crowded the nerve in this hole and eventually, the pain from the pinching off of the nerve began to bother me. I have had bouts of sciatic nerve irritation 3-4 times over the course of the last 12 years, but always associated it with my rowing and that I had just overdone something. PT and chiropractic had removed the pain, so I thought little about it. Eventually, however, there was no relief and an MRI showed the large tumor needing surgery. EVERYONE was surprised! My doctors were all taken aback! Then began the scramble (still not slowing down yet...right?) to get surgery asap so that I could recover during the President's Week break from school and not lose so much time off of work. That in itself was a miracle accomplished by steady attention to asking for cancellations, etc. My original intake appointment with the neurosurgeon was scheduled for Feb 28 (my diagnosis from MRI was first found in late December)! I could not believe that I would have to wait that long in the kind of pain I was in to see someone. But, with the help of a supportive office staff in Dr. Tang's office, we were able to move up the appointment by a month and get surgery schedule in time to take advantage of the week of vacation. Once I saw Dr. Tang, it was decided that I would need to consult a general surgeon as well because it appeared that there no good way to expose the part of the tumor that was on the pelvic side of my sacrum without going thorough the abdomen, which Dr. Tang said would need to be approached by a general surgeon with his removal of the tumor coming after my abdominal "stuffing" was moved out of the way! So, we now had two surgeons to coordinate with and again, Dr. Tang's office worked miracles to get the surgery scheduled and off we went on Feb 15th to Alta Bates!
I have just returned from the hospital. I have a very sore back but feel like the procedure has done the trick for the moment. Here is what I can tell you. Don't expect to remember most of what your doctor tells you after surgery! I have been piecing it together for three days as more and more of the bits stick together into a coherent whole.
They did not do the abdominal part of the surgery. When I woke from the anesthetic, Dr. Tang explained the whole thing to me...but I remembered none of the conversation, and went back to sleep. Then, when I woke for the second time, I laid there feeling very sorry for myself since I could tell there was no abdominal incision and I thought that meant there had been a complication since Dr. Tang had said we would not do the abdominal piece if we encountered complications on the back side. What I learned later the next morning was that the about 5 hours of surgery was primarily spent unraveling the nerves (which were still quite functional) from the tumor fibers. It was like unraveling spaghetti on a micro scale and he was simply not able to remove all the tumor in the time frame that he was comfortable with. Besides, he felt that he had removed the bulk (70%) of the mass that was obstructing the nerve and he felt that the outcome of what he did should be evaluated before proceeding to an abdominal approach with the added pain and recovery that would involve. So, no abdominal surgery and a quicker recovery. He did section some of the tumor on the pelvic side and to do that, he had to remove a fair amount of bone from my pelvis. But, part of the tumor remains on the pelvic side of my sacrum for later removal if it continues to grow and causes difficulties. For now, MRIs will be done periodically to check for further growth and I will begin to regain my strength so I can get back to teaching and rowing with my team as soon as possible. Now, to slow down!
I have been experiencing what it feels like to just read a book and not worry about the time. I just finished
The Girl with the Pearl Earring" and am starring "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil." What a delight it is to read and drop off to sleep and then wake up to read some more. I am beginning to experience what it might be like to be a cat...at least a reading cat!
I have also been experiencing what it feels like to be just taken care of. That has always been MY job...to take care of others. Now I am asking for things and finding out that people are very willing to help. Some of the parents from the school are bringing meals for the family...what a treat! And, people who worked at Alta Bates who discovered I was there popped in to see me...again, what a treat!
I am noticing when I get tired..like right now, and I need to stop. I have always gutted through that feeling before because in my mind I have too much to do. But not today...
