visit with surgeon

Well I saw the surgeon yesterday and he's not keen on surgery because I've got it in three places--2 lypmh nodes, a spot by my rectum and a potential third spot in the peritoneum. He'd rather have me do chemo first to see if it will affect the tumor then do surgery. His concern is if I have surgery and the chemo doesn't work then I'm right back in his office in 6 months to a year. That being said, he did refer me to Dr. Lowy at UC San Diego. Dr. Lowy is a HIPEC surgeon and since I had HIPEC last year, he's sending me there. I've also decided that my surgeon is really good and he's looking out for what he thinks are my best interests, it's just that doesn't always match what I want.

My thought is get this $#!@ out of me, but I understand his concerns, trust me I'm worried about chemo working too. It's obvious that FOLFOX doesn't work and I can't imaging FOLFIRI being that much better. I still want surgery, but am feeling a little hesitant about pushing for surgery first and really want to hear DR. Lowy's opinion.


So while I wait the 2-3 weeks to see Dr. Lowy, I'm looking into integrative medicine. I'm trying hard to change my diet to plant-based rather than animal-based. Given that I've never been a vegetable eater, it's difficult but I'm motivated. I stopped eating refined sugar and white foods in August, which has helped me--I think I'm more even keeled and my inflammation has gone away, also CEA seems to be rising slower. I'm also looking into going to UCLA's integrative medicine assessment to get some counseling on nutrition and herbal medications.

I hoped for a cure with the HIPEC procedure last year, and since that didn't happen I'm becoming more realistic and wanting to beat this cancer back so I can live as long as possible. Traci