Knockdown Friday................

I didn't post anything yesterday because the news was not what we wanted to hear and it truly took us a while to digest it.

As you may remember we had a surgery date scheduled and we were going to remove the cancer and be cured.  ( first knockdown ) Well the PET Scan, which shows more detail and info than a regular CT Scan showed that the cancer had moved to the right lobe of the liver.  So basically the surgery was off.  Why cut out the left lobe if you still have cancer in the right lobe.  Yes, they could do the surgery and look for the cancer in the right lobe, but they would never be able to find it all.  There are literally thousands of place it could be hiding in the right lobe. Why would you put a patient through all the surgery and recovery only to tell them that they still have cancer and it can't be removed.

( 2nd knockdown )  They were going to put a Chemo pump just under the abdominal wall and deliver the Chemo directly into the liver, in the hopes that with a concentrated therapy like that it might shrink some of the cancer cells where something else could be done.  One last check of the blood work showing current liver functions and WHAM !  The function of the liver that would make the pump work correctly was not working at all, so that option was taken away.  It was not a good day.

I looked at the DR and said "  Is this like the sickest, worst Game Show ever played." ,  my daughter said, "  Yeah, How much Crap can we pile on this family in one Day??? "  and we had a good laugh.

This is a rare and incurable form of cancer unless you can surgically remove it. My Oncologist has much experience in this area and I trust him with my life; he said that he has never heard of a person being cured except by surgery and that was off the table.

So obviously we had a lot to digest and tears to shed as we tried to cope with this news.

But, you can knock us down, but we don't stay down long.  Next Weds, July 20th, a port will be installed in my shoulder area and on Friday we will begin Chemo.  This is like having a permanent IV established to receive the Chemo and even take blood if needed.  We will take 2 months of Chemo and then have another CT scan to try and determine if the cancer is having any reaction from the Chemo.  Remember this will not cure the cancer.  They and we are looking to slow the spread and mb even stop it.

Dr. H, says, " This is not the only tool in the tool box, but let's get it started, see the reaction and then change the plan as we see results. "  Maybe the next step can be more aggressive, but we have to have a starting place.

I don't know what else to tell you at this point.  But we're back on our feet today, and looking forward to the Chemo and the future results.

God Bless you all for your positive thoughts and prayers, I know that God is here with us, but we're also doing a little questioning of him.

Captain