I'm sorry, what?!

Let's start at the beginning. In March of 2008 I was giving my then almost 4-yr-old daughter, Carly, an "airplane" ride. You know, you lay on your back and lift up the child with your legs-feet under their belly. I remember thinking, omg Carly, you're getting big! My right leg hurt after that for a few days which turned into weeks, then into 2 months. I really thought I hurt my leg either during that "airplane ride" or playing volleyball or something. I remember even asking my doctors at work (veterinarians-lol) if they had any thoughts. I could kinda feel a firmness (I can't say "lump" because I NEVER thought that's what it was) in my right upper thigh and when I pressed that area lightly I could really feel my femoral pulse which made me worry that maybe there was a femoral hernia or something. I finally went in to see my family doctor who said I probably just strained the muscle. He said a femoral hernia may have been possible but he couldn't see a bulge. When I told him that I could feel a bulge, he poo-pooed it. Told me to take aleve and rest it. He never even palpated it. He just said, "No running around, no lifting the kids"-yeah, ok right.



Ok, I need to back up a bit. In the meantime (actually shortly after I went to the doctor) I filed for divorce. (another story for another blog) I moved out at the end of June to an upper 2 bedroom apartment with my 2 daughters. (tim and I have 50:50 custody).



Fast forward to the end of august. The summer consisted of me trying to get moved in, get the kids used to their new life with mama and daddy not living together, trying to play volleyball and literally dropping to the ground in pain when I stepped wrong, not being able to get on Jeff's (my boyfriend) motorcycle, not being able to have the kids sit on my lap, that sort of thing, I was starting to get frustrated and felt like I could benefit from some PT. Since my insurance didn't require a referral, I decided to pick an orthopedic doctor who had some sports medicine expertise. I did call my family doctor to let him know things hadn't gotten any better and asked if he'd like to see me again or if I should see someone else. His nurse called me back (I actually never even talked to him) with the name of a sports med doc. Ironically enough Jeff is a sales rep for a medical company and is in orthopedics. So he knows pretty much every ortho doctor in the city. I faxed him a list of docs in my insurance plan and he recommended Dr James Stone. (he told me to go to him instead of who my FP recommended)



I was able to get in with Dr. Stone pretty darn quickly. When he examined me he said he could "appreciate the lump" but didn't know what it was. At first he was just gonna have me go thru PT but after manipulating my leg a bit he could tell it was involving my hip so he decided to order an MRI. I went in a few days later to get the results fully expecting to hear that I had a hematoma on my femoral artery or something. When Dr Stone came in and put the images up he began with, "I did not expect this but there is a 5cm soft tissue mass in your leg that's pressing on your femoral artery and nerve. The radiologist and I are concerned..." Me: "I'm sorry, what??" It was a very surreal moment being alone getting that kind of news. Anyone who knows me really well knows that when I am really nervous I tend to laugh or smile at the most inappropriate times. This was one of them. Dr Stone watched me and said, "I have not given you very good news". It still didn't really sink in. He talked about all the things it could be and what would be better than others i.e. "Fibroma vs Fibrosarcoma", "Rhabdomyoma vs Rhabdomyosarcoma", etc. He made it very clear that he and the radiologist were very worried it was malignant. Of course I'm hearing the word sarcoma and thinking "ok, in the cat world if a cat gets a fibrosarcoma, it means amputation. oh crap am I gonna lose my leg??"



Dr. Stone could see it was starting to sink in, the severity of the news he had given me. He asked if he could call Jeff to let him know (pays to know people!). He then put a call in to Dr. Hackbarth at Froedtert/Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW). Dr Hackbarth is an orthopedic surgeon who specializes in musculoskeletal oncology (one of only 3 in the state!) He was going to be out of town but insisted I come in to see his associate, Dr King.



I must end there for now. This may be more details than anyone wanted, but it feels good to get it on "paper". Maybe my brain will be able to let it go a little.



To be continued...



~Maria