Day 96, Year 9: Some Good News, Some Challenging News
Date: Friday, January 24, 2014
Weather: Sunny and COLD . . . again
Location: Brewer Fiddler’s Cove Marina, North Falmouth, Massachusetts
The good news is that scans of all parts of Mark’s body show that cancer has not spread beyond the small growth in the fatty tissue of the abdominal cavity that was found in October. The other good news is that the growth has shrunk ‘a bit’ as a result of the chemotherapy he has just gone through. The challenging news is that it didn’t shrink enough to make surgery a safe bet at this point, so it looks like he is going to have to undergo another round of low-dose chemotherapy along with radiation treatments before surgery can be considered. Oh me, oh my. We will return to Boston next Wednesday to meet with Mark’s oncologist and a radiologist to discuss all of this. We don’t know why we weren’t told earlier that the location of this growth would make surgery a problem. Evidently the surgery can be quite tricky due to its proximity to arteries and blood vessels. So Mark’s colon cancer surgeon would probably not be the surgeon and we didn’t know that. We had an appointment with her on Monday that has now been cancelled. So obviously we have way more questions than answers. For once in my life, I am stymied. I don’t even know what to look up to learn more. When Dr. Kwak called Mark just a few minutes ago to tell him she had arranged the meeting on Wednesday, he asked her what terms could be used to describe the growth he has. Her only answer was that she believes it is the result of a cancerous lymph node that was not removed when he had the colectomy in January of 2012. I hope to have more information after Wednesday’s meeting, but I have the feeling the only thing we are going to know is more detail about the now upcoming radiation treatments and low-dose chemo. This will have to be done in Boston and all we know at this point is that it could be anywhere from 10-12 days to weeks. This means Mark will have to live in Boston and that in itself is most challenging. But we’ll wait until Wednesday before we panic and try to figure out how we’ll do this at this time of year. A very selfish worst fear is that we might have to cancel our trip to Puerto Rico in mid-February. It was Dr. Kwak, the oncologist we met with today, who told us to book those reservations. But that is when we thought we were scheduling surgery for the end of February. The radiologist might have a different opinion. If he feels the radiation must start immediately, then we’ll do what he says. But we’re sure hoping that is not the case.
On our way to Boston this morning, we called our friend Steve Macek who underwent colorectal cancer surgery last Wednesday at Mass General. We talked to him on Friday and we thought he should be home by now, but we called so we could visit just in case he was still in the hospital. Well, he is still in the hospital and he, too, has more questions than he has answers. We need a whole lot of positive energy flowing this way, to both Mark and Steve, so start sending those vibes.
But we will put all of this on the back burner and get ready for Sam’s birthday party tomorrow. And I have to report with glee that my early birthday present arrived today. I am now the proud owner of a GoPro camera with underwater housing. Now I just need to be where the water is warm enough to get into!
