Good News - Margins Clear

I went along to hospital today for my post discharge outpatient appointment. The good news that the margins of the resected tumour were clear. This means that they likely have removed all the sarcoma with none left behind. Most of the resected tumour comprised of dead tissue which indicates that radio therapy was successful. I was given a copy of the pathology report and surprised to read that the resected tumour was 150x100x100 mm ie 15cm x 10cm x 10cm.... whew some size!!

The tissue on my backside has collapsed somewhat and there's a bit of an ulcer which I am told will take about 3 months to heal. In the meantime I've got to put up with a bit of a discharge until it does heal. This doctor did not restrict me in terms of activities unlike other doctors. The registrar in the ward did not want me to sit until the discharge had stopped. Todays doctor did the same last year ie told me all was ok when the others considered the wound was infected. All the others had me on antibiotics due to the wound being indurated.

The bad news is that the doctors are expecting sarcoma to re-occur in the future. My next outpatients review is in April. There are three chronic disease hotspots currently on the go, which I've mentioned ad nauseum to doctors. They either ignore or dismiss out of hand. Though I would have had a lymph node biopsy were it not for the sarcoma developing in May. The tumour just removed, was initially dismissed out of hand by a GP and the ortho oncology surgeon in charge of my case as unlikely in April & May of this year. Neither of them could initially feel the mass. However the MRI proved that a lesion was present. My groin/crotch/genitals area on the right side tells me that some disease process is ongoing and not cleared by the Sarcoma resection. Likewise my right neck and right ribs breast area. I'll post more on this subject on my sarcoma insights blog.

cheers

Rob