First off I need to apologize for not writing in so long. 3 weeks ago I was about to have a Radiation appointment and was asking for clarity from that appointment. I was also asking for "clean" test results regarding my PetCT Scan I was about to have.
On Thursday the 29th of February I had a PetCT. This was a fairly run of the mill test nothing out of the ordinary on the day of the test. I was excited to return to a normal eating schedule following the test. Other than that the day was normal. We began the wait until the resutls came in.
Tuesday the 5th of March we had a consult with a Radiation Doctor. I had been on the floor before but never knew where the door was. I went up to the desk where I am used to going for my scans there and they pointed me to the door.
We had a full conversation with the Doctor who explained how radiation would go and what my potential schedule would look like. He reiterated the same sentiment that my sourgeon has before that his treatment would be something done after we completed surgery. We took note of things and left the office without having a clear decision forward. We had gotten the PetCT result just prior to that appointment. The reports can be kind of technical when it comes to medicine and even though I'm no expert at them however I've gotten pretty good at know what certain key words mean. This one was a bit confusing to me so while in the appointment with Radiation, I kindly asked him to put it in English. He repeated the one line in the report I already understood and that was "No evidence of new disease...." This means they couldn't find any new cancer through the scan. So we are currently treating what was left from the surgery.
There were several opinions floating around as to what method of treatment we should do. The only concensus was radiation would follow any surgery that would happened. Surgery was the treatment that dictated what else we would do and in what order.
Last week I called to schedule another meeting with my surgeon to discuss this potential surgery. Fast Forward to today, I had a call scheduled with my surgeon. She called a little later than was scheduled but I imagine she was busy in the office as she spends plenty of time with her patients. Today was no different. The risks already mentioned were possibility of a leaking bile duct. She mentioned that my percentage for this is really low. Due to the stent in my Bile duct it should be thicker than normal so the leaking would be much less likely than in a healthy person. The long term consequences of a bile duct seem much more of a reality. Due to a Bile duct reconstruction and restitching the risk is scar tissue may close off the Bile duct from draining. If that happens either Endocsopy or Radiology will place a stent back in the new bile duct.
I specifically asked her if systemic chemo would reduce the risks she was talking about. She clearly said no. She said that I had had enough chemo with very little change to the tumors ( conglomerate of lymph nodes). She confirmed the cancer being in lymph nodes means it's in the lymphatic system and could show up some where else microscopically.
The only other thing to discuss with her was schedule. She indicated at the time of my first surgery that she was in her 3rd trimester of pregnacy. We were excited for her , but this now means she would be on maternity leave starting in May.
So the consesus now is surgery really is the best most effective option. Followed by either Sytemic chemo or Radiation to follow for anything left over. Tonight over dinner we talked about surgeons (which one we would move forward with) Our Surgeon 10 years ago or to have our current surgeon before maternity leave and possible schedules. The next steps will be to let know those that need to know inculding the surgeon's office and follow their steps
More here as details get finalized.
~Kent
