Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Chemo Ninja is Growing
Sunday, September 2, 2012
I recently had a friend who just completed treatment for Testicular Cancer and I wanted to share his story. I asked him to tell me a little bit about it and here it is. Here he is sporting some Save the Twins Gear!
Cancer story of Jason Bergeron.
Today I am three weeks finished with chemotherapy and there doesn’t appear to be any cancer left according to the latest CT scan. Lord willing; I am cancer free and healed.
I am writing this on the tail end of the four month trial of dealing with Stage IIc metastatic testicular cancer.
I went into the hospital on April 24, 2012 with serious abdominal pain thinking that the worst case scenario was appendicitis; best case was a bad case of gas and the embarrassment of being a wuss. After taking some pain medication and receiving a CT scan the doctors informed me that they had found a tumor in my abdomen. It was located behind my stomach and sandwiched in between my aorta and vena cava, two of the largest blood vessels in the body and ended up measuring 4cm x 3cm x 8cm long. The doctors could not tell much from the CT scan and could not narrow down any of the possibilities on what the tumor might be. It was not good news any way you looked at it. I had an MRI done later that week to try and learn more about the tumor. We met with two surgical oncologists the next week, both of which were puzzled by the CT and MRI scans. We decided to have Dr. Steven Trocha at Greenville Hospital move ahead with treatment. Because they could not conclusively tell what the tumor was, and that tumor would need to be removed ultimately regardless of what it was, we opted to have surgery to remove the tumor. I had this surgery on May 15, 2012 and it was probably the worst part of the whole ordeal. It was a major surgery due to the location of the tumor. My incision runs from the bottom of my sternum to an inch or so below my belly button. They had to get into the center of my body so although none of my GI tract was operated on, it was shifted and moved around a good bit. The tumor ended up being attached to the vena cava but was removed without damage to the vein. The surgery was successful and the tumor was sent to the pathologists. I spent close to a week in the hospital recuperating and another hard week at home until I was feeling ok. The muscle wall of my stomach is still healing and sensitive to a degree almost four months later. Skin heals quickly but it takes months for muscle and connective tissue to fully heal.
We learned right after the surgery that the tumor was mostly dead or necrotic tissue. This blew my surgeon’s mind as he had never seen anything like it unless radiation or some other specific treatment had been given to kill the tumor. To have a tumor die like mine did, on its own, is highly unlikely and really unexplainable except as a miracle (which is what we believe). Because this was so unusual, it took the pathologists a week and a half to dissect the tumor and issue their report. They ended up finding a small piece of the tumor that was still viable and were able to determine that it was metastatic testicular cancer. This had been a possibility from the beginning but neither of my testicles had any real noticeable growth on them. Looking back, it probably would have been smart to have an ultrasound done on my testicles to rule it out and know more before the surgery, but there’s no sense in second guessing things at this point. They found and removed the tumor and nearly a month after going into the hospital for the first time, we finally know what we were dealing with.
After having an ultrasound and confirming that I did have cancer in my right testicle, we moved quickly in meeting with our surgeon, an oncologist who would handle the chemotherapy, and a urologist. I had the orchiectomy and port for the chemotherapy done on June 1. After the big surgery, this one was no fun, but a walk in the park relatively speaking. This surgery went well and confirmed that there was cancer and that mine was 98% seminoma and 2% terratoma. We learned that it’s not uncommon to have several types of cancer.
The doctors originally thought that my cancer was 100% seminoma and were planning on a 12 week regimen of chemotherapy using two drugs, etoposide and cisplatin. When we found out that there was some terratoma in the mix, it moved my cancer to the non-seminoma category. As a result of this change, my chemotherapy was changed to a nine week regimen of etoposide, cisplatin, and bleomycin. Three full weeks of the etoposide and cisplatin every day with two weeks off, and bleomycin every Tuesday. We really tried getting a second opinion before the chemo started and didn’t have much luck on our own because things were moving so quickly but got confirmation on the decision when our oncologist talked to Dr. Einhorn in Indiana who pioneered much of the current treatment of testicular cancer. He confirmed that we were doing the right thing. Some doctors shy away from the Bleomycin because some of the side effects are worse than the others but Dr. Einhorn felt it was right to add it and that the benefits outweighed the side effects. It was the worst of the three but I did not have some of the more serious side effects like serious lung damage. I started my chemo on June 11.
The chemo experience was not fun but not terrible. I believe that the drugs they give you to counter act some of the side effects have really improved over the past years. I received steroids and anti-nausea medication with every treatment and also used the prescription anti-nausea/anxiety drugs with good success. It was hard knowing what to expect starting the chemo and I quickly learned that it was dangerous to set expectation on how I would feel from day to day. It really was a roller coaster with some decent days and bad days. The full weeks of treatment were the worst but the bleomycin seemed also to be unpredictable on how it would make me feel. I would usually feel decent for a day or two after treatments but feel worse on the third day when the steroids would stop working. I was able to work some days but took most of the time off.
I finished the chemo on August 7 and still have some of the lingering side effects three weeks later. My finger tips and the bottom of my feet are still sensitive and hurt, my stomach still feels funny like it up in my throat sometimes, my hearing is still a little funny, and my energy level is still not back to normal. This may not sound great, but I feel like I’m doing wonderfully, all things considered. They say that it can take months to fully heal from the damage that the chemo drugs do to the body. I am feeling better every day and getting ready to start the GHS moving on program which will include a 12 week work our program to help me with gaining my strength and endurance back. I am looking forward to it.
This has not been a fun experience and I wouldn’t have wished it on anyone but my wife and I feel blessed in many ways. Testicular cancer is one of the more treatable cancers with typical cure rates of 96-98%. We ran into many people who were dealing with more serious and sometimes terminal cancers. This made us very grateful that my situation was not worse. We also were blessed by God in too many ways to count during this time. From the miracle of killing the tumor in my abdomen and keeping the cancer from spreading any further, to the hundreds of people praying for and loving us, it was an incredible time. I know that God will use and has used this time in my life to shape me and mold me into a better person. Isn’t it funny that we are most affected by the trials and the difficult times in our lives? We don’t like them or want them, but they do have a grand purpose in making us the people God wants us to be.
Today I am three weeks finished with chemotherapy and there doesn’t appear to be any cancer left according to the latest CT scan. Lord willing; I am cancer free and healed.
I am writing this on the tail end of the four month trial of dealing with Stage IIc metastatic testicular cancer.
I went into the hospital on April 24, 2012 with serious abdominal pain thinking that the worst case scenario was appendicitis; best case was a bad case of gas and the embarrassment of being a wuss. After taking some pain medication and receiving a CT scan the doctors informed me that they had found a tumor in my abdomen. It was located behind my stomach and sandwiched in between my aorta and vena cava, two of the largest blood vessels in the body and ended up measuring 4cm x 3cm x 8cm long. The doctors could not tell much from the CT scan and could not narrow down any of the possibilities on what the tumor might be. It was not good news any way you looked at it. I had an MRI done later that week to try and learn more about the tumor. We met with two surgical oncologists the next week, both of which were puzzled by the CT and MRI scans. We decided to have Dr. Steven Trocha at Greenville Hospital move ahead with treatment. Because they could not conclusively tell what the tumor was, and that tumor would need to be removed ultimately regardless of what it was, we opted to have surgery to remove the tumor. I had this surgery on May 15, 2012 and it was probably the worst part of the whole ordeal. It was a major surgery due to the location of the tumor. My incision runs from the bottom of my sternum to an inch or so below my belly button. They had to get into the center of my body so although none of my GI tract was operated on, it was shifted and moved around a good bit. The tumor ended up being attached to the vena cava but was removed without damage to the vein. The surgery was successful and the tumor was sent to the pathologists. I spent close to a week in the hospital recuperating and another hard week at home until I was feeling ok. The muscle wall of my stomach is still healing and sensitive to a degree almost four months later. Skin heals quickly but it takes months for muscle and connective tissue to fully heal.
We learned right after the surgery that the tumor was mostly dead or necrotic tissue. This blew my surgeon’s mind as he had never seen anything like it unless radiation or some other specific treatment had been given to kill the tumor. To have a tumor die like mine did, on its own, is highly unlikely and really unexplainable except as a miracle (which is what we believe). Because this was so unusual, it took the pathologists a week and a half to dissect the tumor and issue their report. They ended up finding a small piece of the tumor that was still viable and were able to determine that it was metastatic testicular cancer. This had been a possibility from the beginning but neither of my testicles had any real noticeable growth on them. Looking back, it probably would have been smart to have an ultrasound done on my testicles to rule it out and know more before the surgery, but there’s no sense in second guessing things at this point. They found and removed the tumor and nearly a month after going into the hospital for the first time, we finally know what we were dealing with.
After having an ultrasound and confirming that I did have cancer in my right testicle, we moved quickly in meeting with our surgeon, an oncologist who would handle the chemotherapy, and a urologist. I had the orchiectomy and port for the chemotherapy done on June 1. After the big surgery, this one was no fun, but a walk in the park relatively speaking. This surgery went well and confirmed that there was cancer and that mine was 98% seminoma and 2% terratoma. We learned that it’s not uncommon to have several types of cancer.
The doctors originally thought that my cancer was 100% seminoma and were planning on a 12 week regimen of chemotherapy using two drugs, etoposide and cisplatin. When we found out that there was some terratoma in the mix, it moved my cancer to the non-seminoma category. As a result of this change, my chemotherapy was changed to a nine week regimen of etoposide, cisplatin, and bleomycin. Three full weeks of the etoposide and cisplatin every day with two weeks off, and bleomycin every Tuesday. We really tried getting a second opinion before the chemo started and didn’t have much luck on our own because things were moving so quickly but got confirmation on the decision when our oncologist talked to Dr. Einhorn in Indiana who pioneered much of the current treatment of testicular cancer. He confirmed that we were doing the right thing. Some doctors shy away from the Bleomycin because some of the side effects are worse than the others but Dr. Einhorn felt it was right to add it and that the benefits outweighed the side effects. It was the worst of the three but I did not have some of the more serious side effects like serious lung damage. I started my chemo on June 11.
The chemo experience was not fun but not terrible. I believe that the drugs they give you to counter act some of the side effects have really improved over the past years. I received steroids and anti-nausea medication with every treatment and also used the prescription anti-nausea/anxiety drugs with good success. It was hard knowing what to expect starting the chemo and I quickly learned that it was dangerous to set expectation on how I would feel from day to day. It really was a roller coaster with some decent days and bad days. The full weeks of treatment were the worst but the bleomycin seemed also to be unpredictable on how it would make me feel. I would usually feel decent for a day or two after treatments but feel worse on the third day when the steroids would stop working. I was able to work some days but took most of the time off.
I finished the chemo on August 7 and still have some of the lingering side effects three weeks later. My finger tips and the bottom of my feet are still sensitive and hurt, my stomach still feels funny like it up in my throat sometimes, my hearing is still a little funny, and my energy level is still not back to normal. This may not sound great, but I feel like I’m doing wonderfully, all things considered. They say that it can take months to fully heal from the damage that the chemo drugs do to the body. I am feeling better every day and getting ready to start the GHS moving on program which will include a 12 week work our program to help me with gaining my strength and endurance back. I am looking forward to it.
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Saturday, June 23, 2012
Thursday, May 31, 2012
What would I do different
My wife and I had a conversation with a couple last night that are going through their fight with testicular cancer. He’s already had a lymph node dissection, and is scheduled for an orchiectomy for this Friday. They know he will start chemo thereafter but not exactly sure of the schedule of when everything will start.
In speaking with them it reminded me of all the things that I’ve spoken too in this blog and all of the things that I haven’t. So, I’m going to attempt to speak to some of those things over my new few entries. Hopefully, if you’re starting your fight you may have some more information that lets you know what’s coming down the pipe. Now remember that every battle is different and that everyone’s body reacts differently. So my experience may be different than yours but it doesn’t hurt to know the possibilities of what you may experience.
The number one thing I would do over, or different, if I had to do it over again would be to ask, no BEG for a port! Now I’m not a person who likes needles to begin with so when my doctor told me that the treatment period was so short that a port would be overkill, I like most people took my doctors word for it. Now don’t get me wrong I love my doctor, but between the effects that took place with my veins and the total number of needles, there were some days that seemed like cruel and unusual punishment.
Come November it will be 5 years since my last round of chemo. I’m finally starting to see some veins resurface in my forearms. The veins that used to reside on the inside of my arm at the elbow have been MIA since October 2007. They used to be beautiful veins, I would walk in to get blood drawn and the tech’s face would light up with just how easy their job was going to be. Now, they play, “Rock, Paper, Scissors” to see who has to try and find something that works. For the last almost 5 years the only place that’s been working regularly for blood draws have been my hands.
Now I never had a port so I don’t know the pluses and minuses of a port, if you do have experience with one I’d love for you to comment and let us know. What I do know is that if you have a port you won’t have to sit and get stuck 9 times in one sitting letting them dig in your arm with a needle looking for a vein that they can use. The 9 times only happened a few times, but those days really suck!
The biggest long term issue with the veins is you will have to continue to do CAT scans and other IV related activities throughout the course of your life, and for people who don’t deal with cancer patients regularly; I’ve found that they aren’t always the most talented at finding and hitting useable veins. If your phlebotomist is under the age of 30 be wary. I’m not saying they aren’t capable but you will want the most experienced person in that office working with you. I was able to stump the best at the offices I’ve visited over the last 5 years. Chemo nurses are typically the best I’ve been around. So for that Thank You!
Saturday, May 26, 2012
SLOW COMPUTER
Believe it or not I started writing this post 2 weeks ago. Apparently I do a horrible job of maintaining my Laptop. Between trying to open the computer and getting to this site to write this post it has taken approximately 2 weeks and over 2 hours tonight to get to this point.
I recently have had a few people in or around my life have a cancer scare or two. Personally I have been battling a sever sinus infection, bad enough that my general practitioner had me do some blood work to make sure it wasn't something more. Good news is I'm only full of mucus and crusted mucus. Sexy I know! I have a friend who's 9 year old daughter had to have a spot removed from her scalp, we should get her results soon so be praying for her. And there's one more guy that I've recently been told is possibly dealing with a similar situation to what I have over the last 8 years. I'll let you know more as I hear more. In the mean time I'll be getting this shirt for my fellow testicular cancer patient. Gone But Not Forgotten
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