September 29th about 2:00 in the morning I woke up with really bad pain in my lower intestine area. By 10:00 in the morning Mindy decided that we needed to seek medical help. I ended up at the ER at Methodist hospital to have a CT scan done because they thought I was maybe passing a kidney stone.
Well, they ended up finding a mass (and a polip on my lung)...not what we were expecting to hear once so ever. I hadn't had any symptoms except in the past couple months I had a couple bouts of the bad intestine area pain, but it didn't last as long and it subsided on it's own. The mass is about the size of a baseball and is located near my heart and little intestine. NOT a good place to be located.
October 5th Methodist performed a biopsy of the mass, that is their main concern at this time. And on the 8th we found out that it is cancer. And a rare form never the less called Paraganglioma.
Along with various tests, my Oncologist at the Park Nicollet Frauenshush Cancer Center has been doing alot of research and consulting with other specialist to figure out our best options and way to proceed.
As of now, surgery is the plan to remove the mass and they will also remove the polip on my lung. It will be at the University of Minnesota. Thankfully I will be in good hands because they have already informed us that it is going to be a very delicate operation due to it's location & unfortunately they are not sure if it is attached to my Aorta and/or lower intestines or not.
Thanks to all of you for your concern, love and support. We felt opening a Caring Bridge site would be beneficial for our family and friends that would like to be involved and/or be able to follow my progress.
•Further updates - info will be posted on this site.
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