Short version first: I’m back home and feeling much better now. Everything went well with the operation, and anything that didn’t go as expected went better than expected.
As I wrote a while back, I found out a little over a month ago that what I’d previously been told was a cyst from a knee injury growing on the back of my leg was actually a liposarcoma (basically, I got cancer of the fat). On June 24 I checked into the National Cancer Center here in Tokyo and went under the knife on the 26th. After a little over two weeks in recovery, I came home on Friday morning. I had been planning to write this last night, but after getting back home from dinner with my parents (they flew in from Boston on Thursday), I fell asleep almost as soon as I got back.
As for the surgery itself: the best news was that when the doctors examined the tumor afterwards, it was entirely encased in its membrane, which means the odds are good that they got the whole thing and that it hasn’t spread (I’ll of course be going back for regular MRIs, though, just to be sure). Some other good news was that they didn’t need to remove any of the hamstring muscle, as they thought they would have to, so for rehab all I need to do are walking and stretching exercises. Also, they didn’t need to do a bypass on the main vein, which they were worried about, so my circulation is fine as well.
Since the tumor was fairly large (about 10cmx5cmx3cm), the doctor thought I’d probably need a skin graft, since the skin over the tumor probably wouldn’t survive having such a huge gap hollowed out from underneath. They got around this, however, by making a long curved incision instead of a straight one, which made it easier to reconnect the damaged skin to healthy skin so that everything could recover (the whole thing took about 20 staples, of which there’s still one left to be removed). The result is that I’ve got a long, ugly-looking scar running up my leg, but I’m enough of a lowbrow to consider that kind of a neat plus.
The only long-term disability I’ll have is a pretty minor one: during the surgery it was necessary to cut one of the main sensory nerves in my knee (this was probably inevitable, since the tumor was cutting off the nerve even before the operation. In fact, it was the numbness that alerted everyone that it was more than just a cyst), with the result that there’s now a stripe running down my right calf to my achilles tendon that’s completely numb, and probably will be for some time, if not permanently. Fortunately, the motor nerve wasn’t touched, so everything still moves just fine. I’ve been kicking around the idea of getting a tattoo there, since I can’t feel any pain.
The recovery period went well, although I just have to say: catheters are Evil. Pure, effing, capital-E Evil, and if there’s one thing I’m thankful for, it’s that I was unconscious when they put it in. The nurses, aside from all being really cute, were the sweetest, most wonderful bunch I could have asked for (the doctors were a nice lot, too). A week after the operation (last friday), I had the last of my tubes removed and was allowed to scoot around in a wheelchair (they’d actually tried this a few days earlier, but my legs were too long for any of their chairs and my knee wasn’t strong enough yet to support itself). Later that day, the doctor let me try using a walker, and I was finally back on my feet again. The next morning, I decided to try taking a few steps on my own, and by Monday I was walking around the hospital without too much trouble. Finally, this past Friday, I was deemed healthy enough to go home.
The final pleasant surprise came when I got the bill. The total cost of the surgery plus 2 1/2 weeks of full inpatient hospital care came to only US$7000, while I’d been expecting it to cost double or triple that at the very least. On top of that my insurance company confirmed before I went in that I was fully covered.
Now then, I want to thank all of you guys for your words of encouragement and wishes for a speedy recovery. I thought about this place a lot while I was stuck in bed (no laptops allowed in the hospital, unfortunately. I was beginning to go into withdrawl during that last week). It’s really good to be back here again.
Thank you especially, Cerowyn, for the get well thread. I shouldn’t have any problem meeting up with you when you get to Tokyo for an evening of, err… gentlemanly discourse.
I also want to thank tramp for posting her “most embarrassing moment” thread just before I checked in. Many times I found myself giggling at the thought of “10 inches, purple and FLYING THROUGH THE AIR! BZZZZZZZZZ!”
Thanks everyone.
