Let's get technical:

The pathology report is in! Just saw my doctors and received the news.

To begin, and before I get technical, here's quick overview:

Last week, I had a benign tumor removed from my pancreas via an extremely invasive operation. (See Whipple Procedure on Wikipedia.) This surgery was a precaution from the beginning. The tumor was not cancerous, but it risked malignant development; thus, it was better to take care of it now than to risk deadly repercussions when I'm 55. Think Angelina Jolie and her double mastectomy.

Furthermore, despite the tumor's aspirations of cancer, there was another risk. My tumor is a pseudo papillary something or other and it is found most commonly in women, ages 18-35. Oh hey, that's me. It's extremely rare. And usually it isn't caught until it either turns to cancer, or grows so massively in your abdomen that it cuts off important organs. It can grow as big as a tennis ball and then make little baby tennis balls in other organs. Thus, blocking other organs. But my tumor was very small. So small it never showed up on an MRI, just CTs and ultrasounds.

And this was the paradox. Was the risks of the tumor worth the risk of the surgery? This surgery was to prevent something bad from happening some time. I struggled for a long time on making my decision. Doctors had different views. I read too many scary articles on the internet. And it was so small. However, there was finally a consensus. It had to come out. The risk was too high. Surgery was inevitable. However, I could continue to monitor the tumor and then plan surgery years down the road or I could have the surgery now and never have to worry about it again.

In January, I scheduled my surgery for May. I thought it best to have my surgery when I could take off school and when I had no other responsibilities (career, family, paying for my own insurance, etc.) Although, I was still hesitant. The tumor could just disappear and never amount to anything. My surgeon told me that. He also told me that if I didn't want to have surgery, I could always call it off as soon as the day before. A huge part of of me wanted to pull a Julia Roberts in Runaway Bride and back out of everything. Go back to Provo, finish my degree, and live happily ever after. But another, bigger part of me, knew the surgery was right path.

Well, the object of this post was to tell you that I made the right choice.

And this is the part when I'm going to get technical. Pathology reports reaffirmed that it was indeed a pseudo papillary thingy and then it had started a peri-neuronal invasion (check my spelling there). Basically the tumor was starting to creep down into the nerves. Once in the nervous system, the fluids could have traveled anywhere in my body to birth seven tumor babies, starting with Liesel. Also, this nerve invasion would have been near impossible to detect from outside scans. So the surgery was absolutely necessary and more time sensitive than anyone thought! Well, Georg is gone, along with half of my pancreas, the duodenum, and my gall bladder. That's what happens when Georg places himself in the most inconvenient spot, near the bile duct in the head of the pancreas, everything has to be rearranged and removed down there in order to not slice the bile duct. (Again, refer to Wikipedia and Whipple Procedure, if curious.)

So that's where we're at. This is day seven in the hospital. It's been exactly a week. I hurt, I can barely walk, I can't shower, I have an epidural in my back, I get poked for blood tests five times a day, I haven't been outside in over a week, but I feel loved by my family, my friends, and my god. I hate to sound like a Mormon Mommy blogger, but here it is: I am blessed.

Anyone else's brain jump to Olivia Newton-John when I said "let's get technical?" No? Just me? Well, I am here to fuse that connection in your brain forevermore. You're welcome.