Should I Stay or Should I Go Now? (With Apologies to the Clash)

So, there is disagreement among my doctors. (Per Bruce's recent Facebook status, I really am living in my own personal episode of House. Why couldn't I have been Dr. Cameron in that episode, rather than the Patient of the Week? Shoot, I would even settle for being Cuddy.) Anyway, the surgeon wants to operate. There is a mass (a point on which I don't think I have been clear before, because I wasn't clear until this morning), and he wants to take it out. The GI doctor wants to keep me on antibiotics, because I actually am doing better today. It's a classic surgeon/non-surgeon treatment dichotomy- the surgeon wants to cut, and the non-surgeon doesn't, not yet.

Here are the hypotheses: the surgeon sees a mass in my abdomen, probably in the mesentery, which is the supporting tissues of the abdominal organs, and which also contains the arteries that supply the blood flow to most of the organs. He wants to cut it out, figure out what it is, and proceed from there. It's a pretty big mass, from his description maybe three inches long by an inch or so wide. His take is- this didn't grow overnight, it's probably been there for awhile, let's go ahead and get it out because taking it out will likely alleviate my pain, and if it requires further treatment, then we can go ahead and get started on that.

The GI doctor also sees a mass in my abdomen, but he thinks it might be an infarct in the mesentery. An infarct is basically an area of dead tissue caused by lack of blood flow to that tissue. Most people are familiar with it in the sense of a heart attack- a myocardial infarction. But an infarct can happen anywhere blood flow is cut off. In this case, the GI doctor thinks the mass may be a blood clot and/or dead or infected mesentery tissue, which would resolve itself with time and more antibiotics. He actually has a decent case for this, because I'm getting better. I feel better; my pain is significantly less. My labs look better- my white count is down to normal today.

So, the plan is no surgery tomorrow. I am going to continue on the antibiotics for another day and then on Monday have the CT scan that my surgeon wanted yesterday (radiology gave me injected contrast instead of drinkable contrast, which didn't give as clear a picture as my surgeon would like). If the CT shows improvement, we know how to treat. If it doesn't, well, I may still give it another day or two before agreeing to surgery, unless my GI doctor thinks I should have the operation.

Such good news, to be given hope that I might not need to have major abdominal surgery. That I might not need to have a good chunk of my maternity leave recovering, plus to have the fear that the mass might be cancer or something else really horrible. Plus I feel better, so that's an excellent combination.

Thanks to all who keep me in their thoughts and prayers. I appreciate it more than I can say.