It's been a year now since Karen had her big surgery, so it was time for another follow up visit with the doctor that performed the operation. It was actually a very short visit. He thought everything was going well and was happy to see Karen had put some weight on since he last saw her.
During the exam, he felt the scar tissue that was left behind from the laparoscopic surgery Karen had before we knew it was cancer - pre Mayo. The surgery that started it all was a cyst removal surgery at Banner Good Samaritan. The doctor doing the surgery didn't realize it was actually cancer and cut up the tumor and pulled it out through the small incisions made for the laparoscopic surgery. After the pathology report showed cancer, one concern was if any cancerous implants had been left at the location of the incisions where the tumor was pulled through the body piecemeal.
The big surgery Karen had at Mayo healed rather cleanly. You can still see a scar, but it's mostly superficial. And while the scars from the laparoscopic surgery are hard to see, the surgery had left large nodules of scar tissue under the skin. Karen had remarked that she'd rather have the scar on the outside then all that scar tissue inside. The lumps had begun to bother her more lately, to the point where it was hurting, and was now something we planned on asking the doctor about. He brought it up on his own.
He believes this scar tissue may be something more. It seems to have grown a small amount since our last visit with him, and he says when you're in a situation like Karen's, it's better to error on the side of caution. To make sure it's only scar tissue he wants to do a quick outpatient surgery. Make a couple incision, remove the nodules, and send them off to pathology. One side effect of this surgery will likely be the lessening of the pain she's been feeling in those areas.
Although it's not particularly urgent, he sees no reason to delay, and has scheduled the surgery for tomorrow at noon. Karen can even eat breakfast in the morning, provided it's something soft like eggs and not something harder to digest like oatmeal. This is all a bit fast, but the possibility of cancer is already weighing on Karen and this gives her less time to worry about it. I think we're both happy to have such a quick turn around.
I'll post again tomorrow after the surgery, but since it's midday and other surgeries may run over, Karen's surgery might get pushed back later into the day, but it should be a quick surgery nonetheless.
