Nervous

Poirier66,

Nobody wants the surgery. When I was in your position 12 and 1/2 years ago I was scared as well. The problem with not having the surgery with your 3.8 cm tumor is that without it your tumor will grow and you will die. The surgery is a minor inconvenience for the fact that your margins may not be clear, but the odds are in your favor that they will be.. There is only a small chance that you may get an infection (mostly minor) as a result of the surgery. The odds are stacked in your favor for a full and complete recovery. Without the surgery your tumor will grow over a period of a few years and get progressively worse and you will eventually  be given a check out date.

This is a no brainer. Get the surgery behind you. We all went thru the fear of surgery and the not so fun pain afterwords. A small price to pay for what should be a Cancer free life afterwords by a very large percentage.

Icemantoo

sometimes our biggest obstacle is fear of the unknown. I am still here 2 yeara after a hand assisted complete nephrectomy of a 17 cm tumor. Stage IV adrenal tumor and multiple lung mets.

I am here to tell you and show you that surgery and good treatment will save your life!

will you be sore, yes!

is there a chance there are complications, yes.

dot get caught up in fear if what may happen, stive for what needs to happen.

We all understand how you are feeling at this point, no one wants surgery. Is there a risk, of course but there are risks with most things in life, the difference with this, the odds of staying alive by having surgery  are substantially in our favour than by not. I read that you suffer from anxiety issues, is your Doctor giving you something for that? If that's so maybe he could increase the dosage until the date of surgery. You don't have long to wait now, in the meantime try not to dwell on it. I would stop googling and reading too much about treatments etc., it's not benefitting you!

It won't be long before all of this is behind you, you may be sore and in some pain afterwards but the relief is enormous. Hang in there, you will do just fine:)

Djinnie x

I felt the same way.  I even considered waiting a year to just see what happened.  My husband said no way.  Get it out and let's move on. 

Being anxious and worried about a surgery is normal, but in the end your life is much more important.  

vccortes713 said:

They are all correct.....You

They are all correct.....You must go for it.........I did it so you can.....and don't worry before you know it it's all done.....One thing that helped me was I've ask my doctor for anti-depressants because before the surgery I was also worried and scared and the anti-depressants did its job.....Goodluck our prayers are with you.....-:)

As soon as I found out about my tumor, I wanted it removed a soon as possible. I waited a month for my surgery, and it felt like ten years. It was a relief when the day of my surgery finally arrived.

Get the surgery, take your time healing, and relax. 

Who knows, maybe it won't end up being cancer. Even if that's the case though, it needs to be removed anyway.

You mentioned in a previous thread that you recently quit smoking, and that you have a lot of anxiety.  I went through a period where I had horrible anxiety  (new baby, new job, grad school, at the same time).  This is something you should bring up to your doctor.  Mine got to the point where I couldn't go out to dinner without having panic attacks.  I finally went to the doctor, and got prescribed zoloft which helped immensely.  Anxiety is not good for your body, and you will have a hard time getting over it on your own.  I remember times when I would have a panic attack, because I was worried about having a panic attack. 

I think either talking to a counselor, or getting a prescription will dramatically change your outlook on the surgery. Maybe it was just hyperbole, but you saying you don't even want the surgery anymore is classic panic/anxiety reaction. 

The bottom line, is that if you want to live (and likely be good as new), you will have the surgery. 

You will be sore, you will lay around for a while, you will heal, and you will move on.

it isn't fun.  It SUCKS, but only after it is over and out can you start over.  As said, we've all been there an are now all here for you.  I found the worse part was the waiting for the surgery.

It isn't easy - but it does get better.