More information, yippee! It’s funny, looking back, it seems like ice-age-worthy eons of time have passed waiting for more information to come trickling in. But it has only been a week since I went to Duke to see poor Dr. Morse – I must have sent him two dozen phone messages and pages and emails by now. But still no word from him or his pathology results. However, visits to Dr. Cline and Dr. Campbell have brought in more information.<\/p>\n
November 15, 2006<\/p>\n
Met with Dr. Cline for my final colectomy surgery follow-up. It was good to see him, and he was glad to see me in such good spirits. I told him I was feeling good, eating, and had been running a couple times, and even biked to work once, and he said “good for you!” He examined my belly and said everything felt good. It was such a warm fuzzy moment! If he ever reads that I think he’ll kill me. :><\/p>\n
And he gave me other news that really lifted my spirits. He said the tumor was mucinous, and agreed that it was probable that it was appendiceal in origin, although “it is very difficult to tell the difference”. He said that he checked the liver during surgery and it looked good. I mentioned that I was trying to get in with Dr. Sugarbaker, and he said “Oh, Paul? Great!” I told him I was hoping to get more surgery, and he said, “Well, there’s no measurable tumor left”. But he seemed to understand my desire, and said that it was fine to have Dr. Sugarbaker talk to him.<\/p>\n
November 16, 2006<\/p>\n
Met with Dr. Campbell, the oncologist near Rex. She said that my tumor was so big that it “obliterates landmarks”, making it difficult to tell if it is colonic or appendiceal in origin. Also, colon cancer can be mucinous. I asked if the pathology she had done would trump the other diagnoses, and she said that Dr. Cline would likely know best, since he saw the anatomy. So that’s good! <\/p>\n
The reason I am focused on that: Dr. Sugarbaker will only take on appendix cancer patients at this time. (SPOILER WARNING – SURVIVAL STATISTICS AHEAD – SKIP THIS PARAGRAPH IF YOU DON’T WANT TO SEE THEM – REMEMBER, EVEN IF YOU LOOK, THEY ARE TO BE DEFIED! :> ) Even more importantly, survival is 30% for colon cancer, and 70% for appendix. Dr. Campbell added that the 30% survival is for ALL colon cancers, including left (descending) colon, so it might not be that bad for me.<\/p>\n
We decided that with Dr. Sugarbaker’s office insisting on a four month wait following surgery before they will consider doing a CRS, I have got to get systemic chemotherapy in the interim. And soon. It’s been a month since my first surgery. So even though she had had an emergency that morning, and everyone was literally running around, the office managed to squeeze us in to a PET scan tomorrow, and chemo treatment on Monday. If she did not stick to that aggressive schedule, it would have to be another week before chemo could start, due to the holiday. The nurses actually allowed us to overbook to get the job done – I have a chair reserved for 3 of the 5 hours I need to sit for chemo on Monday. Just like flying! It will be fun to see what happens after that third hour. :><\/p>\n
Dr. Campbell estimates that if I am at 100% vitality now, with chemo I should still be at 75-80%. Bring. It. On.<\/p>\n