So three pre-ops today and surgery day after tomorrow. Extremely nervous yes...very apprehensive because it's been so long that I've been in this condition. The surgery they're going to do is a 3 level Bilateral Laminectomy with Discectomy. That's a lot of words, I've never had surgery in my life except my tonsils getting yarded out =/
How I got here. I've had a back going bad on me for years...in 2014 I was medically laid off from Boeing because of it. I couldnt climb around the flight deck troubleshooting stuff any longer, to tight of quarters. I was able to make do and avoid surgery but then at the end of 2019 I got diagnosed with cancer, it was in my blood. To say I was lucky the way it was found is a gross understatement. It was a yearly physical and the piss test that goes along with it revealed an elevated BUN number. All you medical types can follow along. This physical was kinda being forced on me by my primary care provider because I hadn't had one in a few years and to get my Toprol prescription filled she wanted me in for a physical. Pffft...like I cared that much about taking the Toprol...it's a common blood pressure medicine they talked me in to taking some years back because they said I was slightly hypertensive...I said no...I'm half fricken German and this is how we roll lol. I lost that argument back then and have been taking it every since. To me it's been a hook to force me into physicals...they blackmail me by holding the script refills until I come in. It used to really piss me off because I was super active and in excellent shape except for my little back issue. This physical changed all that though as it saved my life.
So my BUN number was little high...still within parameters but elevated a bit. My primary care Dr being proactive as heck I guess got suspicious...she made made me an appt with a Nephrologist. After some test and on Thanksgiving Day 2019 I got a phone call. Healthy as a horse...almost sixty and could still outwork most 30 and 40 year olds..."we think you have cancer, possibly in your blood which really means in your bones because that's where your blood is made". Dinner didn't go so well.
I started treatment on Jan 3rd 2020 in the worst possible way. I had a endoscopy and a colonoscopy scheduled as part of the physical...I didnt want to blow them off so I was trying to squeeze them in before the chemo crap started...i succeeded in getting them both done the same day on Jan 2nd 2020...my first chemo was the next day on jan 3rd...and on Jan 5th I almost died...literally. The cancer I had was Multiple Myeloma with Amyloidosis...that Amyloidosis part means there's possibilities of protein deposits called Amyloid in various places...i guess I had one in the area of my colonoscopy and during the procedure they tried to snare it to remove it thinking it was a normal polyp. It wasn't. It didn't react right to them once they snared it for removal so they stopped and left it alone. No mention of any of that during recovery before I went home. The next day I had my first chemo treatment...and a day after that I almost bled to death.
The Polyp they snared that didnt act right was actually an Amyloid...a protein deposit caused by the type of cancer I had. It started bleeding a few days after they messed with it with the snare. By the time I realized in the middle of the night on the weekend that I had an issue...I had already bled out a considerable amount. At the hospital my hemoglobin was just above 6 and dropping...I had been bleeding out and was about to finish it in the hospital =/...they transfused me right away to try and keep blood in me while it was literally pouring out the other end...then of course I had a reaction to the transfusion and coded right there in the room...talk about a ride lol...finally emergency surgery found the source and cauterized it and they did something else to it that I cant remember...they figured out that the antibodies in the blood they were giving me was the reason for the reaction...so after that was fixed they started filling me back up while giving me a crap ton of morphine and main lining benadryl.
So 3 months later and deeper into the cancer treatment...from the crazy amount of steroids they had me on...the three different types of chemo they were pumping me full of...I had edema going on and I had shot up from 215 lbs to 245 lbs...I had to do something to try and counteract the weight gain. I found a decent medical type treadmill I could walk on so I bought it and started using it. 1 mile the first day, then two the second, then three, then four, then five, then 6, sweeet dropped a couple pounds already...this is going to work...next day I couldnt even get out of bed literally. Not even realizing it...the steroids they had me on...which was basically a weekly rollercoaster type cycle that always started on a Monday to coincide with the chemo cocktail they were infusing me with...3 days on 4 days off...3 days on 4 days off...was masking the fact that all that time initially I was aggravating my back issue tremendously...I just didn't know it because of the steroids...until the down cycle hit and they wore off enough where I realized that morning what I had done. I read the steroids they had me on were about 20 times stronger than prednisone...and I'll tell you...those weekly cycles with the three different chemos at the same time they were giving me...i knew why some people who have been thru it choose death over chemo treatment the second time around. Little did I know how dark the road was still going to get from around this point on. But right now my issue was I cant stand up...my lower back was screaming louder than it ever had before and the sciatica pain down both of my legs made standing or walking almost impossible.
So that was a year ago this past March...March 15th 2020 to be exact...I haven't been able to walk since...or stand for more than a minute or so...my hemoglobin has never been past 9 yet...and I had one choice for surgery along the way...it was either a surgery for my back...or a stem cell transplant to try and beat the cancer...I chose the transplant...even though as super early as my cancer was caught...because of the Amyloidosis part of it...they only gave me about 3 to 5 years to live without the transplant or if the transplant didn't work...that was about a 50/50 chance and if it didnt no more trying it again.
So here I am...I beat the cancer with Gods help...he certainly got me thru it...I pray I'll never have to go down that road again...but I've got a surgery in a couple more days that will determine pretty much everything as far as how my life will be from here on out. By that I mean it will effect everything one way or another...good or bad. I haven't felt my feet for over a year, been able to walk or stand for more than a minute for that long either. I'm hoping there's no permanent nerve damage done due to the compression of my nerves for so long. I'm on Oxycontin 40's twice a day and 5 to 10 mg of Oxycodone every 3 to 4 hours for breakthru pain...and a bunch of Gabapentin to go along with it. My feet go from feeling like they're on fire...to frostbitten...to being repeatedly being jabbed hard and deep with an ice pick...then feeling like they're crushed from being run over by a semi...it's totally ridiculous...I could never get the surgery to help because they killed my immune system to kill the cancer...then the stem cell transplant literally left me without one all together...they rescued me from the last chemo they gave me that was designed to kill everything including me...by harvesting some of my own stem cells before they gave it to me....then once they did and my immune system was killed...along with the cancer in my bones...and as it was killing me they rescued me by giving me back my own previously harvested stem cells that were cancer free...that was the second time I almost bought the farm.
So I'm seeking some prayers...from those that feel inclined...that the surgery will work and I'll be able to feel my feet and eventually with a lot of rehab walk again. That the surgery will go ok and no damage to my spinal cord exists or will happen during it all. That all my issues are related to the surgery I need and not neuropathy, and that in the end I'll be able to taper down and get off these pain pills.
Yeah it's a long post and sorry for that...I even kept it short if you can believe that. Please get your yearly physicals as mine saved my life...and if all goes well I hope to meet as many of you as I can...standing on my feet while I shake your hand at some event in the future. God Bless !!
How I got here. I've had a back going bad on me for years...in 2014 I was medically laid off from Boeing because of it. I couldnt climb around the flight deck troubleshooting stuff any longer, to tight of quarters. I was able to make do and avoid surgery but then at the end of 2019 I got diagnosed with cancer, it was in my blood. To say I was lucky the way it was found is a gross understatement. It was a yearly physical and the piss test that goes along with it revealed an elevated BUN number. All you medical types can follow along. This physical was kinda being forced on me by my primary care provider because I hadn't had one in a few years and to get my Toprol prescription filled she wanted me in for a physical. Pffft...like I cared that much about taking the Toprol...it's a common blood pressure medicine they talked me in to taking some years back because they said I was slightly hypertensive...I said no...I'm half fricken German and this is how we roll lol. I lost that argument back then and have been taking it every since. To me it's been a hook to force me into physicals...they blackmail me by holding the script refills until I come in. It used to really piss me off because I was super active and in excellent shape except for my little back issue. This physical changed all that though as it saved my life.
So my BUN number was little high...still within parameters but elevated a bit. My primary care Dr being proactive as heck I guess got suspicious...she made made me an appt with a Nephrologist. After some test and on Thanksgiving Day 2019 I got a phone call. Healthy as a horse...almost sixty and could still outwork most 30 and 40 year olds..."we think you have cancer, possibly in your blood which really means in your bones because that's where your blood is made". Dinner didn't go so well.
I started treatment on Jan 3rd 2020 in the worst possible way. I had a endoscopy and a colonoscopy scheduled as part of the physical...I didnt want to blow them off so I was trying to squeeze them in before the chemo crap started...i succeeded in getting them both done the same day on Jan 2nd 2020...my first chemo was the next day on jan 3rd...and on Jan 5th I almost died...literally. The cancer I had was Multiple Myeloma with Amyloidosis...that Amyloidosis part means there's possibilities of protein deposits called Amyloid in various places...i guess I had one in the area of my colonoscopy and during the procedure they tried to snare it to remove it thinking it was a normal polyp. It wasn't. It didn't react right to them once they snared it for removal so they stopped and left it alone. No mention of any of that during recovery before I went home. The next day I had my first chemo treatment...and a day after that I almost bled to death.
The Polyp they snared that didnt act right was actually an Amyloid...a protein deposit caused by the type of cancer I had. It started bleeding a few days after they messed with it with the snare. By the time I realized in the middle of the night on the weekend that I had an issue...I had already bled out a considerable amount. At the hospital my hemoglobin was just above 6 and dropping...I had been bleeding out and was about to finish it in the hospital =/...they transfused me right away to try and keep blood in me while it was literally pouring out the other end...then of course I had a reaction to the transfusion and coded right there in the room...talk about a ride lol...finally emergency surgery found the source and cauterized it and they did something else to it that I cant remember...they figured out that the antibodies in the blood they were giving me was the reason for the reaction...so after that was fixed they started filling me back up while giving me a crap ton of morphine and main lining benadryl.
So 3 months later and deeper into the cancer treatment...from the crazy amount of steroids they had me on...the three different types of chemo they were pumping me full of...I had edema going on and I had shot up from 215 lbs to 245 lbs...I had to do something to try and counteract the weight gain. I found a decent medical type treadmill I could walk on so I bought it and started using it. 1 mile the first day, then two the second, then three, then four, then five, then 6, sweeet dropped a couple pounds already...this is going to work...next day I couldnt even get out of bed literally. Not even realizing it...the steroids they had me on...which was basically a weekly rollercoaster type cycle that always started on a Monday to coincide with the chemo cocktail they were infusing me with...3 days on 4 days off...3 days on 4 days off...was masking the fact that all that time initially I was aggravating my back issue tremendously...I just didn't know it because of the steroids...until the down cycle hit and they wore off enough where I realized that morning what I had done. I read the steroids they had me on were about 20 times stronger than prednisone...and I'll tell you...those weekly cycles with the three different chemos at the same time they were giving me...i knew why some people who have been thru it choose death over chemo treatment the second time around. Little did I know how dark the road was still going to get from around this point on. But right now my issue was I cant stand up...my lower back was screaming louder than it ever had before and the sciatica pain down both of my legs made standing or walking almost impossible.
So that was a year ago this past March...March 15th 2020 to be exact...I haven't been able to walk since...or stand for more than a minute or so...my hemoglobin has never been past 9 yet...and I had one choice for surgery along the way...it was either a surgery for my back...or a stem cell transplant to try and beat the cancer...I chose the transplant...even though as super early as my cancer was caught...because of the Amyloidosis part of it...they only gave me about 3 to 5 years to live without the transplant or if the transplant didn't work...that was about a 50/50 chance and if it didnt no more trying it again.
So here I am...I beat the cancer with Gods help...he certainly got me thru it...I pray I'll never have to go down that road again...but I've got a surgery in a couple more days that will determine pretty much everything as far as how my life will be from here on out. By that I mean it will effect everything one way or another...good or bad. I haven't felt my feet for over a year, been able to walk or stand for more than a minute for that long either. I'm hoping there's no permanent nerve damage done due to the compression of my nerves for so long. I'm on Oxycontin 40's twice a day and 5 to 10 mg of Oxycodone every 3 to 4 hours for breakthru pain...and a bunch of Gabapentin to go along with it. My feet go from feeling like they're on fire...to frostbitten...to being repeatedly being jabbed hard and deep with an ice pick...then feeling like they're crushed from being run over by a semi...it's totally ridiculous...I could never get the surgery to help because they killed my immune system to kill the cancer...then the stem cell transplant literally left me without one all together...they rescued me from the last chemo they gave me that was designed to kill everything including me...by harvesting some of my own stem cells before they gave it to me....then once they did and my immune system was killed...along with the cancer in my bones...and as it was killing me they rescued me by giving me back my own previously harvested stem cells that were cancer free...that was the second time I almost bought the farm.
So I'm seeking some prayers...from those that feel inclined...that the surgery will work and I'll be able to feel my feet and eventually with a lot of rehab walk again. That the surgery will go ok and no damage to my spinal cord exists or will happen during it all. That all my issues are related to the surgery I need and not neuropathy, and that in the end I'll be able to taper down and get off these pain pills.
Yeah it's a long post and sorry for that...I even kept it short if you can believe that. Please get your yearly physicals as mine saved my life...and if all goes well I hope to meet as many of you as I can...standing on my feet while I shake your hand at some event in the future. God Bless !!
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...cool picture and even better verse 
