2019年7月23日
无肩,没问题:脂肪肉瘤幸存者调整生活截肢后
BY凯利Bramlet布莱克本
Liposcarcoma幸存者汤姆Gattle从来没有让他的肩膀截肢阻止他做他喜欢的事情。他去钓鱼用专用杆。他喜欢骑自行车和他的朋友使用斜躺式脚踏车。他猎取一个轻量级的步枪。他骑着马与略小于完美的平衡,他说。
这些调整并不总是容易,但佛r Tom, they’ve made it easier to give up his arm for life without liposarcoma, a type of软组织肉瘤。
“I had made up my mind that I was going to fight cancer at every turn,” he says. “It wasn’t ever a question for me.”
但是,即使在他坚毅的态度,他的癌症治疗和康复是不容易的。
认识脂肪肉瘤症状
Tom wasn’t sure what was causing the numbness in his left hand around 2008. He visited a series of doctors near his Louisiana hometown, Lake Providence. Eventually, doctors found a mass wrapped around the brachial plexus in his left shoulder that resulted in numbness and the loss of use of his left hand.
For years, Tom’s care team monitored the mass. But when it began to grow in 2017, he traveled across the country to see a specialist, who diagnosed him with liposarcoma. He underwent a round ofchemotherapy,但一个月后,肿瘤没有响应。在这一点上,汤姆想接受治疗离家更近,所以他来到MD安德森based on his doctor’s recommendation.
来到MD安德森脂肪肉瘤的治疗
在MD安德森,Tom saw sarcoma specialistRobert Benjamin, M.D.,谁再为他检查。本杰明证实汤姆的诊断,但建议癌症这种侵略性将需要更多的行动。他建议7个月化疗和五周radiation therapy,接着前躯截肢(衣领骨和肩部的左侧的截肢)。之后手术,他需要三个个月的化疗。
“I thought, if that’s what I need to do rid myself of the evil beast, then let’s do it,” Tom says. “I was very lucky to have found Dr. Benjamin.”
从2017年八月到2018年一月,汤姆接受了每周发多柔比星,化疗药,之后为五周内照射。在这期间,他的妻子埃德娜,他们的孩子和朋友支持他,他的缓和复苏路径。
从治疗短暂的休息之后,汤姆接受了手术于2018年5月16日,在10小时的手术,整形外科医生布莱恩月亮,医学博士, removed Tom’s left shoulder and the area surrounding it. Then, plastic surgeonMargaret Roubaud, M.D., reconstructed the area.
汤姆留在医院接受手术后六天。每一天,他会见了身体和职业治疗师,每一天,他获得了更多的力量。
“You just put one foot forward after the other and every day moves the process along a little quicker,” Tom says.
肩部截肢后的生活
With the surgery behind him, Tom finished up another three months of chemotherapy. He continues to travel toMD安德森每三个月随访预约。在约会期间,他分裂他的兼职工作(他是半退休),并享受着他最大的爱好,在路易斯安那州和密歇根州的北部,在那里他住在一年中的部分朋友和家人之间的时间。月亮博士甚至在狩猎之旅加入汤姆过去的这个春天。
“You can’t grow an arm back, but you can cope and you can find a good quality of life after cancer,” he says. “I don’t know if my cancer will come back one day, but in the meantime, I’m going to make sure I have a heck of a time.”
Request an appointment atMD安德森线上或致电1-877-632-6789。
You can find a good quality of life after cancer.
汤姆Gattle
Survivor