Well, not an easy post to make but when I’ve spent half my life in this online community, I figured it’s worth sharing some news affecting my life. It’s officially my turn to personally say Fuck Cancer….
Now I’m going to quickly follow up and say I am good! I want to start there and feel very positive (along with my medical professionals) about where I am now and where my prognosis is. But it has been a hell of a last 1-2 weeks.
I had been dealing with back pain for the most of this year. And really looking back maybe even the last 6-8 months but felt very minor. I had a pretty severe muscle spasm in my top shoulder in February while walking my dog. Not too concerning at the time - urgent care, muscle relaxers, steroids and rest. I was generally functioning and doing workouts 3-4 days/week though not very “active” during those - call them light workouts as I tried to manage some sore spots. That was all fine with occassional Ibuprofren or Aleve for the last 3 months…until 2 weeks ago.
I started feeling a bit more specific back pain that started causing some foot numbess. I thought maybe a pinched nerve or pulled muscle, just in a tougher spot. Mind you this is right at Memorial Day/Indy 500 weekend which is a can’t miss event with friends in town from all over the country.
Did the urgent care routine again on Friday. Was still managing the pain and some numbess but could move gingerly the next couple days. In my typical male idiocy/stubborness, I went to the 500 and had a great time as usual. I was determined this was going to be a Monday/Tuesday problem after I could really rest and let the meds due their thing.
That did not happen. Tuesday and Wednesday came and lower body was losing more control. I was hobbling and holding on to a lot of things to get around.
In some sense the race was probably a catalyst that made it worse but in a good way, it opened my eyes to get this checked out.
Got Xrays Thursday night and MRI on Friday. Before the wife and I were 30 minutes home, I got a call from the physician that they reviewed the images and I need to immediately head to emergency care. There was a mass/tumor on my spine and I was in danger of losing a lot of stability or worse.
Emergency room Friday - CT scans check out there’s nothing else (great news) but there is a pretty nasty thing along T2 to T7 spine (I think? I’m not sure). It was “concerning” for cancer.
So, I just had emergency spinal surgery to remove the mass and reconstruct my spine on Sunday - 7 hours of work.
I had THE best spinal/neurosurgeons in the state - Dr. Horn and Dr. McCanna of Goodman Campbell are heroes. Everything I heard from friends/colleagues/people in the industry leading up to this told me I was in good hands.
They removed 90% of mass, said it was very “suckable” off spine. Better prognosis than they expected going in. Tumor was localized/isolated has essentially been cut off. Spine is strong and I have some gnarley metal or whatever back there.
Surgeons are hard to read but the initial face Dr. Horn had on Saturday explaining how big of a procedure this was…to how he was positive and chatting it up this week with me gave me some sense of calm. He’s a badass (and I think he knows it).
I’m on the mend. Sore as hell as you can imagine but already feeling better each day. I have strength in my lower body but still some tingling/numbess on bottom of feet as I wait for the nerves to “wake up” so to speak. But they’ll get there. Again, prognosis is really good from all parties involved.
Still waiting on pathology but based on spinal surgeon Dr. Horn, he has a suspicion of what it was and says the rest is “very treatable.” There’s no big fear right now but waiting to confirm. Hate that it’s hanging over my head but that’s another battle. The fact my back is good and I got the main nastiness off is a huge relief.
On to physical therapy. Hopefully going home tomorrow.
I have age, health, stubborn competitiveness and support on my side. Just turned 34 last month. Just married 10 months ago. Never had a single health issue and I am in good shape/still active.
It’s gonna be a road of recovery but I have nothing but positivity.
I’ll be walking in Bloomington on Sept 2nd for the Buckeyes’ opener. No doubt.
TL/DR: ya boy had some back pain that turns out was potentially cancer but I’m gonna be fine. Docs killed it. I’ll be bionic and already feeling good 3-4 days after surgery.
Fuck Cancer. Fuck Michigan. Go Bucks.