Five years ago this week I was taken into surgery at Oregon Health Sciences University where a 6 hour procedure to remove a pheochromocytoma took place.  This was a nasty tumor. 

As MayoClinic.com notes:

If you have a pheochromocytoma, your adrenal glands can produce too much of certain hormones, raising your blood pressure and heart rate. A pheochromocytoma may be life-threatening if unrecognized or untreated.

It took three years to diagnose my pheo.  As it turns out, that jerk was growing inside me all three years that I was in seminary.  A few more weeks or months and I would have suffered a stroke or heart attack and mostly likely died.

Symptoms can include:

• High blood pressure
• Rapid heart rate
• Forceful heartbeat
• Profound sweating
• Abdominal pain
• Sudden-onset headaches — usually severe — of varying duration
• Feeling of anxiety
• Feeling of extreme fright
• Pale skin
• Weight loss

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Good doctors and other medical professionals saved my life.  Because of their dedication I still get to be a dad, a husband, a son, a brother, a uncle, a cousin, a nephew, a friend, and a pastor.  My life is blessed. 

If you are experiencing these symptoms and nothing else can explain them away ask your doctor about the possibility of a pheochromocytoma.  The chances of having one are lower than winning the lottery but they are treatable and beatable.  

As I drove up to the hospital with Liz and my mom it was this song that I listened to.  I felt that the path I walked was one I never walked alone.

5 years is a big deal in the post-tumor world.  Happy to be here to see it!