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“Now wait just one cotton-pickin’ minute”, my dad likes to say. It turns out that we were getting so much information at such a fast rate that not all parties had received all the data by the time it all came in at the end of the day Friday. (No resentment here - I am quite thankful that Dr. Oeffinger is so helpful in expediting and pulling strings to get all the tests moving quickly.) So first thing this morning, when the doctors put their heads together to assess the right direction, it was obvious to them all that immediate surgery was not the right path. The surgeon, who had originally worked me into his schedule Wednesday, had not yet seen the CT Scan showing the liver problem. And the oncologist, Dr. Perkins, wanted to talk with me today about our options.
Christine and I met this afternoon with Dr. Perkins. I keep telling Christine she has the day off to rest and then I wake her early and tell her we’re heading back down for another test or meeting. I am remembering that flexibility is one of the best traits to develop when you’re involved in battling cancer. She's been a great trooper - more than that a great support. Anyway, we actually came away slightly encouraged from the meeting. After a couple of radiologists examined the CT Scan, doubt arose as to whether there are many small lesions on the liver or one big strange one. The latter could be liver cancer, instead of spreading colon cancer. (Believe it or not, this would be good, as “two primaries are easier to deal with the one primary that has spread”). In addition there is what looks to be a large mass in the bladder. The problem with that is that I have absolutely no symptoms there, and colon cancer does not spread there. So he’s not really sure what that is. On top of all that, Dr. Perkins is perplexed that I am presenting in such a healthy state. If this is all cancer spreading like wildfire, then my health should reflect that. I am merely weak and that is attributable to my low red blood cell count. He indicated this was a good sign, as it improves chances of survival when cancer like this is caught when in my current state of health. The colon cancer is still clearly in the picture. But since it is not interfering with my digestive function, then there isn’t a huge rush to get it out of there.
So briefly:
(1) No surgery yet as we need a much better diagnosis. Wednesday surgery plans are nixed.
(2) More tests this week including liver biopsy and visit to urologist.
(3) I’m going to get intravenous iron later this week to restore my strength.
(4) The best path may indeed be chemotherapy first for several months to stabilize or shrink the tumor(s) so that surgery can accomplish more.
(5) I’m going to MD Anderson later this week or next week to talk with GI specialists there to see what they think once all the tests this week are complete. Dr. Perkins is setting up the appointment.
Sorry this is dry and medical. I’ll write more later about what is going on in our hearts and our community as we cling to Christ during this time. For now, I wanted to let people know the change of plans.