Budman |
11-18-2003 03:58 AM |
OT: We need your prayers and positive thoughts...
Here we go again...
It's 4:30 in the morning, and I can't sleep. My sweet, beautiful wife is sleeping peacefully, but I'm tossing and turning, because at 11:30 today we will meet with our doctor to discuss the pathology report and see in what direction the rest of our lives will go. Right now my wife is 19 weeks pregnant, carrying our second child. We actually have an ultrasound scheduled for Thursday to find out if it will be a boy or a girl. But first we have to get through this. She went into the hospital on Friday because of blood in the urine. On Saturday they removed a tumor from her bladder that was the size of a lemon, and they say there is a 90% chance that it is malignant. If the tumor turns out to be superficial (first layer of the bladder), we will be in pretty good shape - localized chemo to lessen the odds of recurrence and careful monitoring from here on out. But if it is an aggressive type of cancer (God I hate that word), or it has invaded the muscular lining of the bladder, we may have to terminate the pregnancy and perform much more invasive, lifestyle-altering surgery. Or worse. No one that we have talked to has ever encountered a case of bladder cancer during pregnancy. It is usually something that predominantly strikes men in their sixth decade of life and beyond, usually heavy smokers. I guess we will be pioneers of sorts.
I don't really know why I'm pouring all of this out for thousands of people whom I have never met. Maybe I'm just looking for a little positive Karma to get us through all of this. Maybe God (or whatever higher entity there might be) will hear our prayers and give us back our lives. It didn't work in July when I lost my brother. Maybe it will this time....
P.S. - To all of the ladies out there, this is important. If you ever have any unexplained bleeding, make sure that you rule out something like this first. Don't just take your doctors' word that it is common, probably a UTI, etc. We probably lost three months doing this, when a simple exam by a urologist would have uncovered this. Actually, that goes for the guys too. Be proactive in your healthcare - it is your right.
Sorry if I bummed anyone out. Back to our regularly scheduled programming...
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