I just got back from the specialist in Atlanta and I got GREAT news. The bone tumor is a benign Giant Cell bone tumor that is non-cancerous. I am scheduled for surgery tomorrow at 11am at Emory hospital in Atlanta to have it removed. I should only be in the hospital overnight, so I'll be back home on Saturday.
What they are going to do, since the tumor is inside the bone, is 'scrape' out the tumor and the bone that is touching the tumor (to avoid recurrence) and then pack the bone that was damaged with bone cement. They will also fix the fracture where I broke the bone with a small metal plate and screws. After the surgery, I will have to undergo physical therapy for my shoulder/rotator cuff for approximately 6-8 weeks to get my shoulder/arm movement back to normal. It will be much like the physical therapy that you would have to go through if you would have had a rotator cuff tear/repair.
I will probably be out of work for about 2 weeks, and I'm not sure how long it will be after surgery before I start physical therapy. I know that the next few weeks are going to be rough, but I'll be ok!!!
I'm so thankful and blessed that the tumor wasn't cancer. I had been doing so much research on the computer, that I knew what all the good and bad types were, so as soon as he said Giant Cell I was thanking God. And I cannot believe that he is getting me in for surgery so fast. That is amazing.
But it is just awesome how God works. Everything fell into place just perfectly. Eric and I bought that tree for our anniversary. Then he was going to plant it himself, but I told him that I wanted to do it with him b/c it was going to be our special tree. Then, we had to put the shovel in the ground near us at just the right place, and I had to get beside it and it had to fall on me at just the right moment, and then I had to twist just right to break my arm. My arm probably would have broken eventually doing something else anyway because it has been hurting me for months, just a nagging pain, but it all worked out perfectly right then to happen that morning. Then the doctor had to send me in for the MRI because I was worried that I might have torn something. If I would have broken the bone in another area, they wouldn't have worried with the MRI. The tumor did not show up on the X-ray. Everything fell into place for us to find it. Now, the next 6-8 weeks are going to be very painful for me.
And I worry if I will ever be able to throw a softball the same way again, or a football, and I had a really good arm for a girl. Those things are all relative though. I just pictured myself playing with Peyton and Eric in the yard for years to come. I guess I'll have to start playing with my left hand (I am left handed after all). I can throw decent with my left hand, I've been throwing like that since my arm has been hurting me, I just throw like a girl and I don't like that too much.
Anyway, this experience has shown me how very blessed I am. What my priorities are and how much my family means to me. How quickly something can happen and turn your world upside down. I love Eric and Peyton more than anything and knowing that I'll be back to my normal self in about two months makes me very happy!
And it is time to evaluate our life insurance policies because if I would have been diagnosed with cancer it would have been too late to up our coverage. Also, I was very scared about having another baby and what if we couldn't. On our anniversary we had started talking about our next baby more seriously, and this experience might have put all that into even more perspective. We might not have a ton of money right now, but if something did happen to me where i couldn't have kids for some reason, and we had put off having another baby because of money I would be very sad. Of course, everything works out in God's perfect timing, so it is just hard to really know what to do...
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