So... I've been waiting for confirmation of something for about a week and a half, and in the meantime trying to figure out how to write about this.
I couldn't figure out any good way; and I got the written confirmation of things today.
My cancer has become worse... WAY worse actually.
The original "official" measurement of the tumor (the first estimate was somewhat larger, but they revised the estimate downward after my second ultrasound) was 48mm X 72mm x 88mm, for a volume of 304.12 milliliters (1.9"x2.84"x3.47" for 18.73 cubic inches). As of now, it's confirmed to be actively malignant, and has grown to 67mm X 80mm X 99mm for a volume of 530.64 milliliters (2.64" x 3.15" x 3.89" for 32.38 cubic inches). So, about 1.75x growth... almost doubling in volume.
That's... really not good.
The original deflection of my airway was about half an inch... now it's about an inch and a half.
That is also, really not good.
HOWEVER
There is good news in this.
The first and most important good news, is that there appears to be no lymphocytic involvement at this point. The tumor is still encapsulated. It is growing, but the cancer doesn't appear to be spreading.
The second piece of good news is that although it is deflecting my airway significantly, it isn't actually growing into or perforating my airway or any of the surrounding tissues (though it is compressing them, causing some damage).
The final piece of good news is the really important one...
Because of this rapid and agressive growth, my care team has decided that I can no longer wait any further for surgery (though it took finding a new surgeon to do it, as my original surgeon still wanted me to lose more weight).
My surgery is scheduled and confirmed for August 13th.
So, in three and a half weeks, I go under the knife, to get this goddamned thing out of me.
So, like I said... there's some good news in all of this.
