Chad continues that a CT scan the following day showed that "my tumor was malignant and had grown from my adrenal gland onto my liver. It was huge. Which made my Pheochromocytoma even more rare since they usually are benign."
The musician moved to the ICU two days later, and had surgery scheduled for December 13.
"The only cure for a pheochromocytoma is surgery, one of my worst fears," Chad says. "But if surgery went well, all the glucose consumption, high blood pressure, and any other hormonal changes would immediately go away.
"When I got to pre-op, the surgeon drew the size of the tumor on a dry erase board to clarify how intense, large and dangerous my surgery was gonna be. But still reassured us he’s done many way more difficult. So grateful for him!
"The surgery was predicted to be 4 and a half hours but he finished it in two. The tumor wasn’t attached to anything tricky so they basically cut it out and peeled it off. But man this scar is insanely big. I couldn’t grasp how large the tumor was until now.
"I was sedated and drugged up and don’t remember anything from surgery day. My surgeon came in the next morning and let us know he got it all out!! Now we just needed the pathology report to make sure no cancer got in the lymphnodes."
Chad writes that he has since been able to come home to continue to recover from the surgery, and will know "about future treatments in a few weeks"
"I’m home with my wife and baby and so thankful to be alive!!"