The Health-Line Up-date

Michael’s version of “Lemony Snicket’s A Series Of Unfortunate Events”


I can paraphrase this to read,

“Michael’s Series of Unfortunate Events” or How a Pain-in-the-ass Lead to My Chest Being Opened Again.

The chronology of events is probably the best place to start;
*For several years I have had a problem walking more than half a mile before I get these excruciating pains up the backs of my legs and into my buttocks. (The pain-in-the-ass)
*At the beginning of 2006 I told my doctor that we had to do something and he suggested that there were two courses of action we could investigate, namely, vascular and neurological.
*I went to see a vascular surgeon after I had a vascular test done on my legs to discover if there was any blood flow restriction. (I had this same test done about a year before and there was some restricted flow noted at that time) This doctor’s conclusion was that the problem was not vascular.
*I was then scheduled for an MRI, which is a very noisy machine.
*As a result of the MRI there were two findings; One, I had a distended bladder and two, I had some restrictions in the spine in the lower lumbar regions.
*I scheduled a visit to an Urologist first because that sounded like an important issue and I was putting off the Neurologist until after the bladder issue was resolved.
*The visit to the Urologist revealed that I was carrying around almost 3 liters of urine in the bladder and that although my urine passed on what seemed a regular manner, it was only working after I exceeded the 3-liter limit. In other words, I was not emptying my bladder. The downside of this was that this could lead to kidney failure so I have to contend with a non-functioning bladder. There was also the possibility that the pinching in the back could be contributing to the bladder failure.
*My next visit was to the Neurologist that showed me the MRI and we discussed the feasibility of operating on my back and opening up some areas that looked constricting to relieve the leg pain problem. He could not address the bladder issue with any confidence. In preparation to the surgery he wanted me to get checked over by my doctor.
*After a visit to my primary care physician the plan was to get a CT Scan of my kidney/bladder area to see if there was something on the kidneys contributing to the bladder problem and then to also have a stress test to check out my heart since I had the five vessel by-pass 12 years ago. *All this to prepare for the back surgery.
*I showed up for my CT scan at 7:00 AM, on an empty stomach, and drank a chemical cocktail prior to the actual test at 8:00 AM. Unbeknownst to me the CT scan had two parts, a lower abdomen and a pelvic scan. I left the hospital, got some breakfast and went to work. Later that morning I got a call from the hospital scheduler who told me they had forgotten to do the pelvic scan so I had to go back for a 4:00 PM appointment.
*I had a scheduled appointment with my primary care doctor and he told me that one of the radiologists had reported to him that he saw something on the CT scan in the Esophagus. The kidneys did not look bad so he wanted me to have an endoscope of my esophagus.
*The endoscope exam requires a list of dos and don’ts of which I was informed on the Friday before my scheduled Monday PM test. I had to stop certain medications I normally take and I couldn’t eat for four hours prior to the test and I couldn’t drive myself to the test. This being the start of Spring break for the kids meant we had to do some juggling and a stepdaughter ended up taking me to the test. My Heart Stress test was scheduled for Thursday of that week and I had made an appointment to see my eye doctor on Wednesday for my annual exam.
*A very nice young lady doctor did the exam wherein I was sedated and then in the recovery she informed me that she had found a 10cm tumor in my lower esophagus and she felt it was cancerous. I didn’t hear much after the “C” word but she biopsyed the tumor and made an appointment for a another CT Scan on Tuesday and an appointment with an oncologist for Wednesday afternoon, and an appointment with a thoracic surgeon.
*I cancelled my eye exam and Wifey and I went to the oncologist on Wednesday. He explained that all the years that I had been suffering with acid-reflux had caused the lining of the esophagus to be awash with stomach acid, for which it was not designed. The damage to the cells eventually caused some of the cells to mutate thereby producing the cancer. He felt that from the evidence he had on hand it looked like the tumor was limited to the esophagus and was growing inward rather than outward through the esophagus wall and into the lymph nodes and then into some other organs in the vicinity, like the heart and lungs. He wanted me to have another test known as a PET scan and then possibly an EUS or Endoscope-Ultra-Sound to better determine the extent of the cancer.
*It is this phase of the “Staging” that I am going through right now. I just had the stress test Thursday and I had the PET Scan on Monday and the EUS, if required, on Thursday. Between those two I will see the oncologist again today, Wednesday. Chest surgery is the best option to get rid of all the cancer at one time, if it hasn’t migrated.The entire process started to get rid of a pain-in-the-ass and may end up trying to get rid of a fatal growth in my chest.

Bizarre is the only word that comes to mind. It reminds me of “…for want of a horseshoe nail the kingdom was lost.”