“Look! It’s moving. It’s alive. It’s alive. It’s alive, it’s moving, it’s alive, it’s alive, it’s alive, it’s alive, IT’S ALIVE!”
— Henry Frankenstein from Frankenstein (1931)
It’s been over two months since I first reported to you that I was diagnosed with an extremely rare form of slowly progressing abdominal cancer: Pseudomyxoma Peritonei (PMP). So, I thought it was about time I provided you with a progress report.
The bottom-line is that I’m very much alive and doing better each week.
Here’s what’s been going on:
My wife and I traveled to Pittsburgh, PA so that I could undergo surgery on May 2, 2014 with Dr. David Bartlett at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Dr. Bartlett is one of the world’s leading PMP surgeons and researchers. His surgical team and the nursing staff are experienced and fantastic.
Frankenstein (1931)
My surgery was massive. I was on the table for nearly 14 hours. Approximately 30 pounds of mucin and several organs were removed. In addition, cancer growths were scraped off of other organs. Finally, I was treated with HIPEC, a heated chemo infusion. After approximately three weeks in the hospital, I was released and headed back to Philadelphia a few days later.
The fantastic news is that the expert surgical team reports they were able to extract the cancer and that they consider the surgery a “complete” success. In a few weeks, I’ll return to Pittsburgh for an anticipated follow-up surgery that will keep me in the hospital for about four days. After that, I’ll be completely done with treatment.
While my treatment will conclude shortly, I will continue to undergo frequent diagnostic testing. While successful as a treatment, the surgery is not a cure. Although I am now classified as being in “remission,” the cancer is expected to return someday. Fortunately, Dr. Bartlett believes this will not happen for many years. When it does, we’ll catch it early so that it can be beaten back with a far less aggressive treatment and, perhaps, with a breakthrough therapy.
Michael Rosen Says... 