March 11, 2015: Went to Pocatello to meet with Dr.
Fransisco. He is the closest chemotherapy provider that our insurance
will cover. The doctors at Huntsman wanted us to get set up for our
initial consultation in case they decided that chemo was the best option.
They did a blood test to see if the tumor markers had gone up, but it
takes 24 hours to get the results of the test.
March 12, 2015:
Called Dr. Fransisco's office and they said that my tumor marker
decreased. They sent the information to Huntsman, and they called to let
us know that they are not recommending chemotherapy, but they are recommending
a Retroperitoneal lymph node dissection.
According to my research, this surgery consists of taking all of my
insides, putting them on the outside, removing the tumors, then putting all of
my insides back in (hopefully in a similar arrangement to what they were
originally in). They have scheduled the surgery for March 27th. I need to be down there by the 25th
for pre-op testing. The prognosis is very good. I will probably be in the hospital for 4 or 5 days. We will be staying with Rachelle's parents for a week after that, and then hopefully be able to come home. The doctors believe that they can remove the cancer. I am so happy that at least for now, I will
not have to have chemotherapy. They said
that it is still a possibility that I will need it after the surgery, but it is
also possible I will not.
I am so grateful for
everyone’s prayers on my behalf. At times,
I struggle with what his happening in my life right now. At times, I question why it has to be like
this. It didn’t take long for me to
understand that this experience that I am going through is amazing. Without this experience, I would never have felt
so much love from everyone around me. Since
starting this blog, it has been viewed over 2000 times. I realize that probably 1500 of those times it
was my mom (thanks Mom!), but that leaves at least 500 other times that people
have shown love and concern for our family. I appreciate everyone’s well-wishes, thoughts
and prayers for our family. Please
continue. The road ahead is a little bit
scary, but I know I have loving and supportive friends and family to help us
through it. Thank you!
-Dan
-Dan
We hope that everything will work out. So happy that you do not have to do chemo for now. Keeping you in our prayers.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like pretty good news Dan. (ok having your insides on your outsides does not sound good no matter how you look at it, but thanks for putting it in context we can all understand)
ReplyDelete