Re-Recovery

Yesterday I got my stitches out - all 26 of them.  That's only 3 more than last year so I think that's good.  They don't use any topical anesthetic to get the stitches out and I was in a world of hurt as some were extremely tight and embedded in my skin.  Nothing like someone pulling on a stitch to make you yelp in pain!  I was not prepared for this year's stitch removal to be so much more painful than last year's.

I'll spare you the pictures but my Franken Foot makes one hell of a scary Halloween costume!

I got some good understanding of my condition talking with the DR.  He cut further down and higher up in my foot so he could see for sure the whole length of the tendon as he searched for the tumor.  He did cut the sheath open to view the whole area.  Last year's repair to keep the tendon in place did need to be cut but it was strong and he was able to reaffix it with a few stitches.

This time the tumor appears to have only grown back in the foot area and not up high in my calf which is good.

I also got a better idea about how they measure the tumor in pathology.  You cannot cut out GCT like a regular cancer tumor which they remove in one lump.  GCT is more diffuse and they cut it out piece by piece.  That's why it is so hard to get it all and it often grows back.

To send the tumor to pathlogy they squish all the pieces together to make an aggregate measurement.  So its not actual tumor size but its how much tumor you had.  Last year my aggregate measurement was 8x7 cm.  This year I am 4x3.5 so exactly half the size.  I think this is good news, as that is a good example of one year's growth.  Maybe if it does grow back we can wait longer for surgery?  I for one am not eager to do this again.

I am in a boot cast for four more weeks and adding weight bearing as I can tolerate the pain (which isn't very much today).  Then we will schedule physical therapy again (not looking forward to that).

In early December I return to the DR and we will discuss next steps and when we might do an MRI to see if the tumor is growing back.  In the meantime, more rest and recovery.