Let me give a brief timeline of the last week by way of update and explanation of my relative absence from life. Wednesday 10/1 Got the final biopsy results which surprisingly indicate that the tumor isn’t a GIST, but a leiomyoma – which is a benign, non-cancerous tumor. While the oncology team has been careful …
Author Archives: sandro
Preliminary Biopsy Results
The definitive results won’t be in until later this week, but the preliminary finding is that I have a “GastroIntestinal Stromal Tumor” (GIST). A GIST is a type of sarcoma, which in turn is a type of cancer. It’s pretty rare (of course), about 3,000-3,500 cases in the US annually. The good news is that …
Out of the Hospital (again)
I finally had the cardiac echo yesterday, and after much trepidation (seriously shouldn’t the functioning of my heart valves have been checked before they cracked my chest open), the results were negative. My heart appears to be functioning correctly. We are left with much conjecture, but little knowledge of what caused me to pass out …
Hospital Update
I’ve been admitted for about 24 hours now, and so far my tests have all come back negative. Specifically: Blood Enzymes EKG Head CT various Blood Pressure Tests Carotid Artery Ultrasound I’m still waiting for a cardiac echo, but they’ve been swamped with emergency cases, so I’m going to have to stay another day. Since …
Back in the Hospital
I was back up in Baltimore today for the first of my post-op doctor’s appointments. Afterwards I stopped by Faidley’s for lunch. While standing and eating lunch, I suddenly felt lightheaded and I realized that I wouldn’t be able to keep standing. Gwen and Allan quickly got me a stool to sit on, but apparently …
Recovery Update
Now that we appear to have stabilized the server connection (it was out again late last week). I just wanted to post a quick note with a status update. I’m up and about, feeling better everyday. The pain medication makes me a bit fuzzy sometimes, but I’m mostly focussed on my physical therapy and trying …
Sandro 2.0: day 1
Or maybe it’s day 7 of Sandro 2.0, but either way it’s basically a new beginning for me. My first night out of the hospital was tough since I can’t really sleep flat, and I spent much of the night gasping for air. In the end I managed to get a couple hours of sleep, …
Getting out of Dodge
I left the hospital yesterday, which ended up being both bus and stressful. Is started of the day on the wrong foot — literally. My left foot would no longer take any weight for walking, so what would have been a somewhat tough task of packing and getting ready to leave became excruciating. Whatever was …
Help details thus far….
9/09 – 8:00 – 9:00 Location Prep (Rob) 9/10 – ?:?? – ??:?? Transport (Jim) 9/11 – 11:00- 3:00 visit (Jef) 9/12 – 10:00- 4:00 visit (Scott) 9/13 – available visits 9/14 – available visits 9/15 – 11:00-11:30 visit (might have family in town?) 9/15 – 3:00 – 3:30 visit (might have family in town?) …
Walking papers?
As I was just sitting here writing a post clarifying what I might need in terms of detailed help, my Doctor just came in and said to expect to leave tomorrow. Things just got serious in terms of needing help….. Oh, and BTW I have some abnormal growth in my stomach, it might not be …