On March 1st of last year, I left the operating room, excited that the chickpea-sized tumor (presumed a benign schwannoma following an autumn biopsy) had been removed from my left thigh. Under anesthesia, I was WooHoo’ing and High-Fiving everyone as I left the operating room! Almost immediately, I noticed my 10-year nerve pain was gone! The next three days were full of plans for athletic events, family trips, and goals. However, on the fourth day, my surgeon called me. I babbled on happily expressing that the burden of pervasive nerve pain had lifted and leg movement was good. I paused, as I noticed my surgeon was very quiet, and asked if I should be feeling this way. He said that instead of the benign tumor, my decade-old tumor was actually synovial sarcoma, a rare cancerous tumor. I felt as if I was falling back into the pit that I had just escaped. That was the bad news. However, the good news was that my surgeon (who is actually a specialist in rare and complex sarcomas) and the Tumor Board at Levine Cancer Institute already had a plan. Yep, LCI has a Tumor Board where the team discusses new patients and their tumors, treatments, and recovery. I was to undergo another surgery to remove the tumor bed, including nerves and parts of muscle in my left thigh. I made plans to meet with an oncologist ASAP (also on the Tumor Board) and undergo CT scans to determine if the sarcoma had metastasized to my lungs. That’s where sarcomas love to go when they first metastasize. My beautiful, swimmer lungs were (and still are) big and clear of cancer!
I am very happy to report that in early March, I just had my 5th CT scan since surgery last year, and my lungs and abdomen are clear! A day later, I laid in the MRI hammering tube for over an hour to discover that my left leg is also clear! Wonderful news! It’s been a year! Phew!
Kerry, an amazing athlete and long distance swimmer, had her synovial sarcoma tumor removed from her thigh. This relentlessly glass-half-full woman decided that the resulting long incision line on her thigh reminded her of a shark attack scar. Thus, team Sharkoma Squad was born!
