update - good news

Hello all,
Yesterday I went to Stanford to meet with both surgeon and oncologist. They were there to read the scans (PET and CT) and look at all data. All went very well. The liver tumor has shrunk more than 50% from the start. Long story short.... GREAT NEWS. This is interpreted as the chemo is working and probably taking care of any smaller micromets. The tumor did not even light up on the PET. While this is unusual it does occur. The PET scan has me injected with radioactive glucose and then "resting" 45 min. in a big tube while a non human voice tells me to breath in and out, hold your breath.... Obviously this machine was designed by deep sea divers as some of the hold your breaths had me turning almost blue.... The interpretation of the tumor not showing up on PET ranges from nothing to good. Because it did show up once before, it is "probable" that the chemo killed many of the cells (if not all) and the glucose uptake can not be seen. Long story short... GREAT NEWS....

Because all looks good...no new metastases showing, the pulmonary embolism in the lung clear and shrinking tumor... I now have liver surgery scheduled for the 28th of Feb. at Stanford. They anticipate surgery on Wed and get out of the hospital on that Sunday. They think 4 - 6 weeks for recovery. This surgery is to take out the tumor and do an interoperational ultrasound to "burn out" with an electric probe any smaller questionable areas.

Weight, blood work, and physical all look good and the Dr even called me "lean", first time that word was ever used in a sentence with me. Long story short .... GREAT NEWS....

I am relieved and grateful for the great work, prayers, kindness that everyone has put in for myself and my family. I walked out of the hospital under overcast skies at 4:00 pm and just let out a great big yell. It felt so good.

The Dr.'s said now you need to get strong, eat well, rest, exercise gradually and build your immune system back up. Hopefully, I will be back on Monday at work. All my best, love and respect
Impactzone