癌症诊断和巴尔的摩之旅

克雷格肖勒, 纽约北部的911主管, 他说他的苦难始于一场严重的流感.

当他的咳嗽持续, his doctor recommended an X-ray to make sure he wasn’t developing pneumonia. The X-ray revealed a small spot on one of 克雷格’s lungs, and the doctor recommended a 计算机断层扫描 为了看得更清楚.

The CT revealed a small lung lesion and two masses elsewhere in 克雷格’s body — one on his kidney and another on his lumbar spine. 克雷格得了癌症.

“I didn’t know if I’d see the new year, but I was trying to stay positive,” he says. “My wife and I started searching online for top cancer centers. 我们想在东海岸找个离家近的地方. 和, 鉴于2019冠状病毒病大流行, which at that point was just starting to blow up in New York City, 我们认为约翰霍普金斯大学是最好的选择.”

克雷格’s family doctor made the call to Johns Hopkins. 医院的 礼宾服务, 哪些机构帮助州外推荐十大正规网赌平台, worked with 克雷格 to set up all the appointments he would need.

克雷格’s unusual situation called for a range of expertise. 肿瘤学家 马克·马可夫斯基，m.m.D., Ph.D., who specializes in urologic cancers, would manage medical aspects of 克雷格’s cancer treatment. 心胸外科医生 Jinny Suk Ha, M.D., M.H.S.会评估肺部病变. 克里斯蒂安·帕夫洛维奇，m.s.D., 布雷迪泌尿研究所的医生, 会处理肾脏上的肿块吗, 脊柱神经外科医生会治疗脊柱肿瘤.

Looking together at the possibility of complex treatment and an uncertain outcome, 克雷格 and his wife Danielle made the trip south to Baltimore.

首先治疗肾癌

克雷格很幸运, Ha determined that the spot on his lung was a small scar, possibly from the severe coughing he experienced during his bout with the flu. 但他肾脏上的肿块需要手术.

克雷格说, “我当时很担心, 但当我去见医生的时候, they said that it looked like the kidney tumor was contained, 但直到我做了手术我们才知道.”

1月. 9, 2020, Pavlovich removed 克雷格’s kidney robotically. 它被发现有第一阶段的恐色症 肾细胞癌, a rare cancer of the kidney that is often treatable with surgery.

马可夫斯基告诉克雷格，他的肿瘤生长缓慢, 这是手术后的结果, 他将监视另一个肾脏. But there would be no need for further treatment unless the cancer returned.

“After that, my wife and I just cried and hugged each other,” 克雷格说. After two nights in The Johns Hopkins Hospital and a week recuperating at a nearby family member’s home, the two returned to New York for a quick break before returning to deal with the spine cancer.

脊柱肿瘤的治疗

“我在4月1日做了手术，不是开玩笑，”克雷格说. 到那时, the COVID-19 pandemic was raging through the Northeast and many hospitals, 包括约翰霍普金斯大学, restricted visitors to help protect patients and caregivers from coronavirus infection.

Danielle had stayed in 克雷格’s room during the kidney surgery. 然而，为了这个手术，她不得不把他放下来. 克雷格就得单干了.

“The doctors called her every hour to tell her how I was doing,” 克雷格说.

克雷格是一个非常活跃的人，他的生活就是徒步旅行, 在山上露营和背包, 所以面对脊柱手术更加困难. He and his adult son have hiked all but nine of the 46 High Peaks in the Adirondacks near their home, and both father and son wanted to reach their goal of getting to all of them.

“Before the spine surgery, I had no idea what my life would be like afterward,” he says. “Would I lose the ability to do the activities I loved? 我最后会坐在轮椅上吗?”

出人意料的癌症诊断:两种类型

A biopsy of cells from the tumor in 克雷格’s spine looked like those of the kidney RCC, leading the team to consider the spine tumor a metastasis (spreading) of the kidney cancer. It was a tough diagnosis — spreading kidney cancers are life threatening.

但是在切除肿瘤之后, his neurosurgeon suspected it might be a different cancer, 病理测试证明他是对的. 克雷格的脊椎有 脊索瘤, the cells of which look very similar to those of the kidney cancer.

克雷格’s treatment team went into surgery thinking they were dealing with kidney cancer that had spread to the spine, 但结果却是另一种肿瘤.

After surgical removal of the 脊索瘤, 克雷格 underwent targeted radiation with radiation oncologist 克里斯汀·雷德蒙德，M.D., M.P.H.来治疗残留的肿瘤. 我们正在监视克雷格是否复发.

The rare presence of two different cancers in 克雷格’s body surprised doctors and patient alike, 但在某种意义上, 这是个好消息. The fact that the two tumors were different showed that neither cancer had spread to other parts of the body, 这对克雷格来说意味着更糟糕的机会.

感恩的推荐十大正规网赌平台

克雷格’s advice to patients facing a cancer diagnosis and surgery? “不要单打独斗，”他说. “向人们伸出援手，让他们提供帮助. 不要把他们推开. Find someone to help you keep track of your appointments and paperwork.他说，丹妮尔在这方面是个明星.

On June 9, just a little over two months after spine surgery, 克雷格 hiked a mountain. “I’m happy and surprised to be doing this well,” he says. “我觉得自己已经恢复了95%.”

Though he’s getting ready to retire from his job in the emergency medical services world, 克雷格正在考虑第二职业.

“我想在医院找份工作，”他说. “The treatment I got at Johns Hopkins in the intensive care unit and on the 12th floor — how the team treated me had such an impact on my spirit.

“我觉得自己很重要.”