Great news so far - Update -

Hey everyone,
Great news all around.
The trip to NYC was great. Kim and I had a wonderful time walking around the city. The highlight was a stroll and a carriage ride through a snow covered Central Park. That type of touristy activity is usually not my kind of thing, but the warmth of Kim beside me, the rhythmic clip clop of the horse and the chatter of the children ice skating was peaceful and calming.

Actually the highlight of the trip was our visit with a most kind and wonderful Dr. at Sloan. After a very thorough physical exam Dr. Veach took lots of time to let us talk, answer our questions and give us his opinion. Unlike Wake Forest, Sloan does not do the type of surgery that I need because they don't believe that the uncertainty of the results justify the extensive surgery. However, Dr. Veach said that surgery followed by chemo would certainly be the most aggressive and appropriate course in my case. "If I were you at your age, I'd do it." What more could I ask from a 2nd opinion?

I meet again tomorrow with my surgeon to go over the results of recent tests and make a final decision about surgery. In the meantime, here's what I know.

Last Friday I had another colonoscopy. The one polyp that they found came back negative for cancer. The area of the rectal tumor showed significant improvement. Great news.

On Monday I had another MRI. Some of the liver mets which did not show up on the CT scan are visible on the MRI. That's not good, but it's not entirely bad. The real questions are how many mets? And where are they? My Oncologist did not want to put words in my surgeon's mouth, but he said nothing that leads us to believe that the MRI results will negate surgery. Great News.

On Tuesday I had another PET scan. The area of the rectal tumor is the only place that lights up at this point. Great News.

Basically my Oncologist is very pleased with my response to chemo. There is a 40 to 50 percent overall reduction. He characterized the cancer as "stunned." I prefer to characterize the cancer as getting the crap stomped out of it. I'm trying not to be too hopeful about what the surgeon will say tomorrow, but I can't help it. I believe that I'll walk out of the office tomorrow with a surgery date.

Cancer hates happiness. Be happy

Roger

Update: The surgeon wants to put my case back in front of the tumor board next Tuesday and meet with me afterwards. No indication of whether this is good or bad. I suspect he is being as thorough and prudent as possible. The waiting game is back on.