Getting ready for surgery

Well I have been stressed a little lately because of all the things I have had to do. With Track season is full swing that has been been demanding on me. I am trying to do my best, but things always go on and fires have to be put out. Lachlan is growing up so fast and I cannot believe that he is 13.5 months already. He will be 2 years before I know it and truly a 'big boy'. Too quick, too quick. Teaching has been crazy. You never seem to catch up with things. I come home from work and know I have plenty of work to do. Family time comes first of course, but the stress of thinking about all of that school work just drains me. My mind has been racing. The only way I can sleep any good is if I take my natural sleeping tablets. And now on top of that I have my surgery next week. I feel as though I am not prepared for it at all. Maybe thats a good thing. I wont be thinking about the surgery because I have so many other things going on. I do need to get a blood test tomorrow and the results sent up to IU. I might just get it done at Highlands. They get the results very quick and are good about faxing the results quickly. Just need the time to get my butt down there. I should have that tomorrow......then again.. who knows.
I am glad that my parents are going to be there for the surgery and afterwards. I think afterwards it is going to be really nice to have them by my side. We can go walking together which I will love and a very important part of my recovery. Total recovery should take about 3 months, but I am hoping to be at work after 4 weeks and working without any heavy lifting. My parents are here for 2 weeks.
I will be typing up posts from IU and the recovery room. It should be very exciting and I might actually get some much needed rest!

Indianapolis visit & Surgery Date

Jennifer and I drive 9 hours to Indianapolis, spent the night, up early to meet
with Dr. Foster and Dr Einhorn, then on the road again for another 9 hours back to Bentonville. It was a quick, busy trip but it was very worth it. The drive there was easy. Nice roads and minimal problems. Hotel check in was a breeze. My Insanity workout that night in the hotel room was not a breeze! I found myself stopping to many times and just not able to keep up the pace. The good thing for me is that many of the guys and girls on the video were also stopping. Maybe this is not so good for Insanity as you'd expect their 'athletes' to complete the workout without stopping. putting us mere mortals to shame. Anyway.. getting off the topic aren't I. Back to it.
Dr. Foster was first up and he was very relaxed and seemed very confident. He answered all of our questions, and we had a lot! He told us he does about 170 of these RPLND's a year and done about 2000 in his career so far. Amazing. Compare that to one about 6 years ago, which was the stat of my first urologist that wanted to do the surgery on me! So I felt very confident that if I was to get the surgery done, then Dr. Foster is the man to do it. Next was Dr. Einhorn. We went down the elevator to his office to check in. While we were waiting, I noticed the walls were covered with Lance Armstrong pictures and signed magazine covers. I'm sure he has his own private collection of signed gear. Dr. Einhorn's RN first came in to see me and talk to me about my case. Dr. Einhorn then followed in which he basically told me I have two options. Do the surgery, which he strongly suggests, or surveillance, which he strongly opposes. So, with this Dr. of so many years experience telling me I needed the surgery. I simply told myself that I have to bit the bullet and get this done. So I walked out of there a happier, more knowledgeable person. I'm happy I found IU and happy that this will be the place of my surgery with Dr. Foster. My parents are coming over a few days before which will be really helpful with my recovery.
Time to prepare for it all.

On our way to Indianapolis.

Jen and I are traveling all day, over 550 miles, up to Indianapolis to meet with Dr. Foster, surgeon, and Dr. Einhorn, oncologist, tomorrow. We have just passed the arch in St. Louis. Sorry, this was the best picture I could take from the care. Don't stress, I wasn't driving!
Hoping tomorrow is as good as I hope and that I get all my questions answered by these two very renowned Doctors.

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Surgery Date is set

So I spoke to Dr. Foster's assistant today and we have set the date for the RPLND surgery. March 2nd. My parents will be coming over (yippee!) for support and to help me through those first 2 weeks after surgery. Jennifer and I will most likely take a day to venture up to Indianapolis to meet with Dr. Foster and Dr. Einhorn next week sometime. We aim to discuss many questions regarding the RPLND. Again, this will be a great educational experience for us and I think that the more I know about the surgery the better I will deal with it.

My hair is coming back really thick now and everyone I see, especially after a few days of not seeing them, always mention how fast it is growing. When I walked into the classroom today, all the kids even noticed it!

Update

Snow and ice cancelled my flights. So Einhorn & Foster are going to review my CT scans when they receive the CD's Monday.
Feel so good they are on my team. Its like a new found confidence to beat this.

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Such a big day today: Dr. Einhorn

Yesterday I wrote an email to Dr. Einhorn who lead the team that saved Lance Armstrong's life. I didn't expect much a response back as he gets so many emails per day. He wrote back this morning and even tried to call! I was in the shower so missed it. I called him back and we spoke for about 20 minutes about my treatment. Well I found out that my treatment timeline has been pretty much wrong this whole time. I should of had 4 cycles of chemotherapy, should of had them 3 weeks apart, should of had my RPLND surgery about 6 weeks after my last course of chemo. I have a 12% less survival rate now that I took 3 cycles instead of 4. Dr. Travis and I will be discussing this next week.
Now I am focused in on working with Dr. Einhorn, oncologist, and Dr. Foster, the surgeon. This team is the best in the country. I am getting a CT scan tomorrow morning and my bloody tumor markers drawn as well. This information and all of my previous scans I will take to Indianapolis Friday. I am spending the day up at the hospital in Indy talking to Dr. Einhorn and, hopefully depending on his schedule, Dr. Foster.

This is where I start doing this treatment thing right.

Like Dr. Einhorn said, " This is still going to have a happy ending"