Seven years ago....a long time

   Seven years ago, I was told I might live 5 to 7 months, unless...someone or more could do surgery, and they might be able to remove all of it,  and maybe it might work, and there might be a trial drug.  I was over the moon when 3 physicians at Oregon Health and Science University got together with me in the same room (scheduling 3 busy docs was a major undertaking for staff).  Even with being unsure if the mass(es) that had metastasized to the liver were one or two, and if the nodes were affected, the two surgeons assured me they would get it all.  In an 11 1/2 hour surgery done as a tag team, the right kidney with a 12.5x11.5x8 cm tumor (nearly the same size as the kidney), the adjacent set of nodes with 2 of 11 positive, the left lobe of my liver with only one 3x5 cm tumor, several wedges from the right lobe,  and a congenitally defective gall bladder/bile duct that did not drain properly...were all sent to pathology.  The surgeons felt they got it all, and I didn't fit into any of the new trials in 2006 because there were no active sites to monitor.

   Regular CT's found single nodes enlarging in my abdomen and pelvis both in 2007 and 2008.  Both were removed surgically.

   Which brings me to today, when I got the results of my most recent tests in black/white/and red (Ultrasound, x-ray, and blood work) Everything is good to go for another 3 months with NED.

   I'm here to wish everyone a Fabulous Fourth of July.  Keep up HOPE.  It's what sustained me in the early days of diagnosis.  You can live thru Stage IV, you can live thru recurrences, you can search for a drug now because there are so many more than even 7 years ago.  Pin your HOPE on that secret desire to sustain yourself.  That becomes your goal.

  I don't post as frequently as I did for a while...too busy trying to burn the candle at both ends.  Walked in the Relay for Life two weeks ago; seven years ago, a nurse assisted me out of bed and forced me to walk about 20 feet down a hall and back to bed.

Later...

donna_lee