Doctors Orders – It’s Got To Go
The background turned dark and grainy as the doctor gazed at me with a maniacal smile and screamed, “the liver has to go!” I may be embellishing this story a little, or whole lot, but that’s how it felt.
I popped a Xanax and begrudgingly had my semiannual MRI of my abdomen. Im claustropobic and the MRI machine nearly causes me to have a panic attack. I’ve gone through this process every six months since they found my liver adenomas two years ago.
My doctor’s preliminary diagnosis was everything looked fine. The lesions appeared to be the same size or had shrank slightly. All was well in my world for the next six months. I said goodbye and went about my day.
The next morning my doctor called with a different story. The adenoma on my right lobe had grown. I would need to have another biopsy. An hour later his secretary called informing me I needed to come in first thing the next morning to talk with the doctor. Things seemed to be progressing quickly for the worse.
At my appointment I was told the Adenoma on the right lobe of my liver had grown in size and started to become amorphic. There was concerns the lesion could be bleeding into itself. Or worse, it could be turning cancerous, as that is a possibility.
I knew where this conversation was heading. His recommendation was to surgically remove the adenoma. The issue is I have two and due to the size and location of each, he will most likely only be able to remove the one on the right lobe.
The adenoma he will be removing is over 6 cm in circumference. About the size of an orange. The adenoma on my left lobe was smaller, but near two major veins. He was afraid if they tried to remove both they wont’t be able to leave me with enough liver functionality. I wasn’t thrilled to hear he wont’t be taking both at the same time, but that’s life.
I agreed to the surgery and he explained the recovery process. I will be in the hospital 3-5 days, then out of work for an additional 2-4 weeks. Because of the large incision he needed to make in my abdomen I’m supposed to be out of the gym for three months.
That’s when the panic set in and my mind started future tripping. (more…)