It's Baaaaaack

Liver: I know it's a little late but I got you something for your birthday.
Me: Oh liver, you shouldn't have. 😀
Liver: It's a two centimeter mass in the right lobe.
Me:  Oh liver, you really shouldn't have. 😠

I suppose it's payback.  I've been abusing that poor organ for decades. 🍺

December 2018

On March 14, I had another routine, follow-up CT scan.  I was nervous, but I'd been nervous before and it was always a waste of time and energy.  This time, I showed up, drank my nasty juice and got scanned.  Then I came home and began my long weekend.

It was a very unpleasant surprise a few hours later when my wife came up to me and told me I had a recurrent liver tumor.

So it's back.  But we're gonna do some things different this time.

Things that won't happen:
1 - Poop bag.  This was the littlest princess's primary concern.  There will not be a poop bag. 💩
2 - Crying and weeping when you see me.  It's a liver tumor, not "This Is Us".
3 - Lying around being all mopey and cancerous.

I got these superpowers from last time, I might as well put them to good use.  I'm going to go to work and drink beer and play video games just like every one else.  The only difference is that I have cancer (again).  Which brings me to the most under appreciated benefit of having cancer:

Lowered Expectations

This is seriously addicting.  Nothing has changed from last week, but now I'm a rockstar because I did the bare minimum.
Picked up my kids from school?  I'm a superhero.
Showered and made toast?  I'm Mother Theresa but without the mustache.

Tomorrow I'm going to go to work just like everyone else, but I'm "inspirational".  🙄

So what is The Plan?

My surgeon will see the CT and MRI tomorrow and hopefully there will be a liver surgery in my near future.
My oncologist will decide whether I need chemo or not.  This thing survived all the nastiest chemo from before but whatever the oncologist decides, I'll do.

Of all the bad news to get from a surveillance scan, a single liver tumor is less bad than many other options.  That doesn't mean I'm not going to milk the hell out of it.  The surgery may happen quickly so I need to cash in on all the Cancer Perks I can.

The real takeaway from all this is that I'm back to being a Big Damn Hero.


FAQ
How long since your previous scan?  August was the previous CT scan and I had a colonoscopy in December.

What would be worse?  A lung tumor or a tumor in the pelvis would be worse.  Also, I could be a Duke fan.

What are you doing now?  Neither my oncologist nor my surgeon have said that drinking beer WON'T fight the tumor.  Seems like common sense to me.