What's a stent?

In response to a question from my mother here is a little more information about what a stent is and some other stuff (and another update on my status):

A stent is kind of like a metal Chinese finger trap. They insert it into various canals in the body and expand it in some clever way. It forces/keeps various pathways open. There are lots of reasons why something like this may be needed. In my case it is likely a lymph node that was compressing my left ureter, causing my left kidney to enlarge and not drain properly (and thus also impairing my overall kidney function). A ureter is a very thin (and apparently normally almost invisible) canal that connects the kidney to the bladder, which is in turn connected to your "output" by the urethra. My left ureter is very obvious right now because is has a 24cm metal thing snaking through it keeping it open, from the bladder all the way to the kidney. Bacteria love foreign objects and thus they are known to cling to these things. Having it out as soon as possible in order, but since that's not an option yet we just have to keep a careful eye on it. I hope to get the most recent images from my last PET/CT scan and put them up. I will have lots of glow-in-the-x-ray bits (my new port and ureter, and some tumors... hopefully not too many of those). They are waiting for bacteria culture results from my urine to make sure that whatever I have will respond to the cipro, but I certainly feel better today than I did earlier... so that is a good sign in my book.

I worked 6.5 hours (well, 7 with a government mandated half hour "lunch"). I left the house around 9:30 and got home at 6:30, so it was a pretty long day for me as far as things have gone recently. I am pretty tired now, but it was a good productive day. I am going to go in late and work a short day tomorrow I think. I'm not falling into the trap of trying to have two full days in a row. If I do I'm sure come 2:00 tomorrow it will feel like someone has hit me with a ton of bricks.

My mother has said several times that I must be frustrated with things and that she feels upset reading about my trials and tribulations. Similarly when another person I know heard about my most recent malignancy she asked "Are you angry?". I thought it was an interesting question, because the answer is decisively no. Anger isn't an emotion that has even come across my mind since this all started happening. At what am I supposed to be angry? I will say that I was upset, in a sad way, as news of this started to trickle in. I know when things are not right though and I had suspected cancer for quite some time. Having some confirmation just cemented my belief. Being told that in fact I have stage IV metastatic colon cancer (as opposed to stage 1 colon cancer and recurrent Hodgkin's Lymphoma) was in fact the worst news I think I have ever received. I'd say you could probably have called me depressed about that news for at least a couple of weeks. But I was certainly not angry about it. It was depressing initially trying to come to terms with news like that though. I have come to terms with it though and it's not depressing anymore. It's just a fact and it doesn't really alter my situation or what I have to go through or what I am willing to go through and do. Hopefully I respond well and go on to live a longish and fruitful life. I don't think it's under anyone's control though. Not myself, not my oncologist, and since I'm an atheist not God. (note that you are still more than welcome to pray for my health though!) Only time will tell how I fare. I have a positive outlook though and until I am presented with a lot of evidence to the contrary that's how it's going to stay. Being young and invincible (hah!) has to count for something, yeah?