So I wanted to include some pictures of what I looked like before and after having developed Cushings. I also included below a copy of the email I just sent out to everyone about my surgery. It was a bit shocking for me to see just how much the Cushings and this tumor has changed my physical appearance. Have I mentioned how I think I look like the staypuff marshmellow man from Ghostbusters the movie? I have also posted before and after pictures and will continue to post more on the website that has been set up for me by my friends (the url is in one of the paragraphs below).

A lot of people have been asking if I am nervous about the surgery tomorrow. Honestly it feels more like Christmas. I have all the anticipation that you get the day before, wondering what your going to get and wether or not you will like it. Knowing that it is coming and wanting it to come, but not wanting it to come because of all the prepration and effort you put into preparing for the day and then knowing it is going to end. Really, that is how this surgery feels to me. It's kind of odd to think it's almost here and although I would prefer to not have surgery, I am looking forward to feeling well again.

So here is the surgery update and news, sorry for the late reply. I did consult with the doctors at the Huntsman Cancer Institute, but have decided to stay with my surgical crew at LDS Hospital. I report to surgery tomorrow, Monday the 18th of September, at 10:45 a.m.

I am not sure how long the surgery will be, but I know at least 5 to 6 hours long. Right now the game plan is to go in, try and remove as much of the tumor as possible. Most likely remove the adrenal gland, check the kidney out and remove that if they have to (hopefully not), possibly remove part of the liver (if they can’t get back far enough to the tumor or if the liver is damaged or been invaded by the tumor), and then repair and reconstruct the Vena Cava. Once they remove the tumor they will send it to pathology to determine if it is cancerous or not. If there is cancer then they will do a type of radiation therapy called Interoperative Radiotherapy which is a method of delivering radiation during surgery by directly exposing cancers to electron beam radiation with normal structures being removed from the treatment field. It’s kind of a neat process how it works and they great thing about using the electrons instead of an x-ray type radiation is that the radiation beams only go as far as they want them to, so if they only want the beam to go 2 cm thick then it only goes that far unlike x-rays which slowly taper off until they dissipate. This means there is less damage to places of my body that don’t need to be radiated. My radiation oncologist is a great guy as well. I met with him on Wednesday. He actually was the same radiation oncologist that my Grandpa Sorensen had when he was at LDS hospital. All of my surgeons were highly recommended by the surgeon I consulted with at Huntsman. I will be in the hospital for ten days up to three weeks. So if you would like to visit just give one of my family members a call (see paragraph below) and they can give you my room info and stuff. I would love to see anyone who would like to come.

Also for those of you who aren’t aware I was on one of the local news stations (Fox 13) Tuesday night. My sister set up the interview, I found out about eight hours before the news crew showed up to my house. They interviewed me about Cushing’s disease (which I have because of the tumor). If any of you want to see the interviews we are trying to put them on my website. We have an official website set up to track the progress of my health it is: www.friendsofbecky.com

The friends who are maintaining the website will post all the recent information on it. We also have links on the website where you can see before and after pictures and stuff. More will be added as we go along. Chris is going to try and keep the emails up but I am not sure how much time he will have to send stuff out. We will try and call most of you or send you a message via email after the surgery. I think though that it would be best that if anyone wants updates and haven’t heard anything by Wednesday that you call Chris at (801) 884-6434, Carrie Greenberg at (801) 274-0044, or Boyd Miner at (801) 358-8022 or (435) 503-8085.

We love you all and hope you are well. Feel free to pass this information along to anyone you think may want to know about it. Thank you again to everyone for all your prayers, comfort and love. Knowing there are so many people out there praying for me and knowing that you care has been one of the things that has helped me most during all of this. So thank you again for everything.

Have a great day.

Love,
Becky