Prayer

The last post I wrote was us talking to the PA about a chemo break for the month.  That was granted and up until recently I was planning on resuming chemo on January 4.  

Recently (as in a few days ago) I received a call from my Oncologist.  He told me that his meeting with the tumor board met and the surgeons thought it possible to perform surgery.  He put in a referral to the surgeon we wished to have a consult with.  I'll continue this thought in a bit.  So please stick with me.

Fast forward with me from the Surgeons call to my visit to the vetrinarian last Thursday.  Miranda had a toenail fall out and her toe never healed properly so we were in to see a vet I trusted.  He spent a few minutes on the floor looking at the toe and then got up and said.  "I don't really want to add any more to your plate."  What I told him when he asked how I was is that my cancer returned and I had 12 treatments.  He followed  by telling me He believed Miranda's toe was likely cancer.  He did some talking to ask me pertinent questions and inform the tech what the plan is.  The tech stepped out of the room and what happened next is why this is applicable to my journey.  The vet (who we know well) knelt down by the chair I was sitting in, Put his hand on my shoulder and began praying for me, Miranda and our family.  I don't know if I ever can say until now that I was prayed for in the Vetrinarians office.  

Since I often joke when stress gets to high I began saying don't drink the water at home.  Leah began saying there are 2 with cancer (me and the dog) and 2 with a missing toe (Leah and the dog).   To be honest, her surgery went well and we had her toe sent in for path reults although that likely won't change our future decision for her.

Now back to the referral.  Yesterday I got a call from the Surgical Oncology office saying they had a referral from my Oncologist and would like to get me scheduled.  I missed the call at that time so today it was on my schedule to return that call.  I was given 2 dates prior to Jan 4 and what worked best was the morning of Jan 2.  My current Oncologist told me in the phone call he would suggest holding chemo until surgery.

So Jan 2  I will have a surgical consult and then Jan 4 I have a meeting with my PA for my oncologist and she will pull my new oncologist into the meeting.  During that meeting I will reiterate that I will hold chemo until surgery happens and I will have the chance to meet my new Oncologist.  My regular chemo nurse is returning to the blue pod after the first of the year.  She's sad she won't see us for while.  If we're in the building you never know what might happen.

Many days I hear about someone new that is praying for me.  And the Christmas Cards this year have had a similar theme of  "we are praying for you".  To all of you reading this, I/we appreciate your prayers for each step in this journery.  We serve a Mighty God who answers prayer.

~ Kent

Am I staying?

Today was my appointment with the PA and Chemo.  We packed and planned as if we were going through with Chemo even though we were trying our hardest to get a well deserved break from Chemo.   Physically and mentally I need some time to live a bit normal.  

While visiting with the PA we went over the scan results ( refer to the last post if you didn't hear about this) which was good news.  We quickly shifted the discussion to ask, is the tumor shrinking toward or away from the Portal Vein? Is Doc bringing my case to the tumor board to discuss surgical options?  The next question was can we have this Chemo break over the next 2 treatment days (today and Dec 21)?  Our PA wrote everything down and didn't have a lot to say other than "Let me step out and check with your doc and I'll be back"

So what was several minutes but seemed like an eternity, Leah and I waited in the exam room together with no distractions.  When the PA came back in she said, "I was not presented to the tumor board today." so, Doc will present my case before them next Thursday.  All GI Oncology Docs are present in this tumor board as are Surgical Oncology Doctors. They will discuss me as it pertains to treatment/ surgery. I should hear back from my Doc Thursday or Friday next week.  In regards to how the tumor is shrinking, the Doctor said surgeons have amazing methods to see how it is postioned relative to the Portal Vein.  All that to say is it is really up to surgeons to determine where the tumor is positioned and if that leads to a possible surgery.

Per the Chemo break my PA said, he reacted in the manner of "a month?".  We/she did enough convincing that neither my current or new Oncologist said, "No" to the break.  So the next treatment is scheduled on Jan 4.  We should know more about any surgical options by then and if we are planning on surgery we would need to hold one of the medications I recieve during treatment.  So from that perspective this is good pre planning.

I just need more than 1 week (consecutively) that I can live life normal and have a relatively "normal" amout of energy.  I'm thankful I'll be able to see family during the Christmas season (and remember it).

Until I have more news next week...

~Kent

The wait.

(Written Monday night.)

Last Thursday Nov 30 I had a CT scan to check progress of the Chemo.  We have been waiting (not so patiently) for some answers in the test results.  Both Leah and I struggle with a time period of not knowing.  For the last 5 days we wondered what was happening to the Tumor as well as are we able to take a "chemo break" for this month.  Those close to me will tell you exactly how tired both mentally and pysically I am from the treatments.  I no sooner get some energy back and then the treatment starts again.

Tonight while we were at dinner when I got a message from My Chart.  As I logged in to the app I found it was the CT results.  I quickly read through the report looking for numbers and didn't understand clearly until I read the whole report out loud.   The last CT was measured in MM and this one in CM

The tumor was 5.8 x 4.0 CM (58 x 40 MM) as of Nov 30 from my CT the size is 4.9 x 3.0 CM (49 x 30 MM).  This indicates a size reduction by about 1 CM each direction.  The next question we have is did it shrink toward or away from the Portal vein.  The report did not say one way or the other.  So this will be one of the questions for the PA.  The other big question the PA will get is about our wish for a "chemo break".  A couple weeks ago when we had an appointment with the Oncologist during which he indicated he would be ok with it.  So at least we know what the tumor is doing and we will yet again have to wait to see if I am or am not doing a chemo treatment on Thursday.  

I've told the people that need to know what my plan is.  Essentially we have to plan for either case and be flexible.  The first thing my Oncologist told me 12 years ago was that Cancer is inconvenient.  He was and is right.  Just like this week we'll likely pack as if we are staying all day for treatment even we don't plan on following through with it.

Our desire is to take this Month as our break and then return for treatment after the first of the year if I'm not seeing someone for surgery. If the surgeons think surgery is an option I'll consult with one of them and they will likely want another scan to get a better picture and then they'll schedule surgery.

So until Thursday we wait again for more answers. 

~ Kent