할머니/어머니 수술경과에 대해 궁금해 하는 사랑하는 가족/친구들에게.
오늘 새벽 6시에 병원에 도착. 간단하게 혈압, 체온, 혈당량등을 확인하고는 바로 수술실로 들어가 마취를 시작. 두시간여 만에 수술을 마치고 나온 의사가 나를 상담실로 불러 수술경과를 설명.
종양이 한 개가 늘어 세개였고 크기는 전번에 비해 더 작았다고. 그래서 다음수술은 지금까지 처럼 석달이 아니라 넉달 후에 해도 되겠다고 해. 그래서 부탁을 했지. 어머니가 마취에서 깨어나실 때 쯤 다시 회복실로 와서 설명을 어머니에게 직접 한 번 더 해줄 수 있겠냐고. 이렇게 수술 후 내가 설명을 듣고 나중에 집에가서 들은 설명을 해 드리면 말기암인데 내가 거짓말로 아무것도 아닌 것 처럼 어머니에게 말씀드리는 걸로 생각하시기에 말야.
어머니 정신이 돌아오신 후 의사가 와서 다시 설명을 해 드림. 끝에 왜 방사선치료를 안 하고 자꾸 종양을 키워 잘라내기만 하느냐는 날카로운 어머니의 질문을 받으니 이 하바드출신의사가 조금 기분이 언짢았는지 미간을 살짝 구기더니 여지껏 안 해주던 설명을 해줬어. 이렇게 주기적으로 제거를 하다가 더 악화되면 그 다음 치료순서로 소량의 BCG라는 약과 Interferon alpha라는 약을 복합해 쓸 수 있고, 그것도 여의치 않으면 그 다음엔 우리가 흔히 아는 방사선치료를 한다는 거야. 지금 어머니는 그 두번째 방법조차도 필요없는 경미한 상태라고. 의사가 직접 그러니 미더우신 모양. 많이 흡족해 하심.
지금 막 집으로 돌아와 침대에 눕혀드리고 책상앞에 앉아 이 글을 쓰는중이지. 모두들 오늘 밤 이후에 할머니/어머니께 전화라도 한 통씩 걸도록.
Update on grandma’s Cystoscopy today
We arrived at 6 in this morning at the hospital’s outpatient surgery unit. After briefly checking her vital signs, they went ahead to move her into OR. It took them about 2 hours to finish the procedure. Doctor gave me a briefing after he got out of OR.
He said that the size of the growth were much smaller than the last ones even though he got three of them instead of two last time and recommended us to come back in 4 months for the next removal. I asked him to come back after she comes out of anesthesia and explain things to her in person. It’s because she has been thinking that I had lied to her hiding the fact that she had stage III cancer.
He came back as he was requested and explained the result to her. Then grandma popped a question to him. She asked him why he would not give her Chemotherapy and keeps removing the growth instead. This Harvard graduate looked a little offended for a second by her question but then started explaining more details that he has never done to us before. He said that her stage is so superficial that it is not even qualified for the next step of treatment, which is to give her ‘Interferon – combination therapy with low dose BCG’. Chemotherapy is even the later step after this therapy fails. After grandma heard the explanation from him directly, she seemed to be very happy and confident about the status of her illness.
I’ve just come back home, laid her down on her bed, and came back upstairs to start writing this. I strongly encourage all of you guys to call grandma/mom after midnight and say hello to her.
Good news is that there was no growth so he didn't have to remove any from her bladder. But he also mentioned that he found a small reddish spot while he was looking through the scope. So he took the tissue sample and sent to the lab. The lab results will come back in a week to tell us if that's the bad cell or not.
