Trey Mancini Of Orioles Facing Long Battle Back After Colon Cancer Diagnosis

The Baltimore Orioles finally took the lid off the Trey Mancini mystery on Thursday, confirming that he underwent surgery to remove a malignant colon tumor. Baltimore said, in a statement, that the lab results and timetable for Mancini's recovery are not going to be known until next week.

Mancini thanked the team and the Oriole fans in the same statement. He has received a large amount of good wishes since the team said he was going to have a non-baseball procedure.

"The outpouring of love and support I have received has made an extremely tough week so much better," said Mancini. "I have the best family, friends, fans, and teammates imaginable. I am also eternally thankful for the Orioles front office, our athletic trainers, and the entire medical staff for everything they have done to help me during this time. Finally, I would like to thank everyone for their prayers and kind words, which have furthered my excitement to get back to playing the game I love."

Mancini will be facing a tough road in the upcoming months. This observation comes from a reporter who traveled down that same path four years ago.

If he is going to deal with chemotherapy, doctors will wait to let him heal from the surgery before starting it. In my case, the time was about six weeks. Then, depending upon how many rounds of chemotherapy Mancini needs (I was scheduled for 12 but it stopped after 11), that will play a role in the timetable.

Mancini may be young - he is going to be 28 on March 18 - but these are powerful treatments which will cause lots of fatigue, something that builds up throughout the course of them. In my case, naps were essential. Also, Mancini could have issues dealing with the hot weather. That's one of the side effects also. Plus, there are times after treatment when water no colder than room temperature was allowed to me after a treatment or choking could occur.

The best part is the nausea is not much as they give medicine to counteract it. But dealing with everything else should keep Mancini busy enough. That's what happened when Eric Davis was diagnosed with colon cancer during the 1997 season with Baltimore and missed nearly four months but returned to play the final few weeks and the playoffs.

The type of treatment Mancini receives depends upon what's needed. My treatment was longer as the cancer was in Stage 3B. Hopefully, Mancini is in an earlier stage, and things will be better for him as the chemotherapy for colon cancer is powerful and can provide a rough ride.

Until the medical people give all the details, all we can do is speculate. There's no question that Oriole fans and his teammates are rooting and praying for him; to be going through this at such a young age is very difficult. If chemotherapy is on the horizon, that clouds the timetable as to when Mancini returns.

It's likely, though, that the team would just love to see him back on the field once more. So would this reporter.