C Dixon Update After Surgery Consult at Duke

My devotion from yesterday morning was preparing me for today. It was this:


For everything there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven: …
Ecclesiastes 3:1

God has ordered this world and the life within it with natural rhythms and cycles, with beginnings and endings, that are time honored and enduring. All too often our human inclination is to try to reorder those rhythms to suit our self-appointed desires. We are not good at waiting when we should. We are too quick to break into cycles, disrupting and subverting them. We are too slow to recognize the rhythms we should let play out and too slow to understand when we need to act in concert with them. In our journey toward healing we need to take time for discernment about what we can change and what we cannot. We need to become more sensitive to the natural order God has established for our health and our well-being.


We arrived a little late at Duke but that's ok because we knew they weren't going to be on time theirselves and they sure weren't. I woke up sick during the night, which would explain my high white count on Monday, so my sleep was not great. Ben had to take my daughter to practice at 5:00am, which is ungodly right now. So, we got a slow start leaving but we made it.

Dr. Blazer, who performed my HIPEC in September of 2009 met with us again today and remembered us. He was very clear that every one there was in the same school of thought as to what kind of patient I am and to be aggressive was the right thing to do.

However, he does not think operating right now is the best thing for me. He is concerned about the fast reoccurrence of liver tumors after such an aggressive resection and he thinks there is more disease in the abdomen than the ovary. He is mostly concerned with the liver though. He thinks the problem is systemic and not localized and needs to be treated to stablity with systemic means, which is chemo.

We talked about the Oxi not being available but he said there were other options and he is right. Surgery is a localized therapy and until they feel like things are under control they don't think that is the way to go. He stressed that surgery was NOT off the table but that right now he doesn't want to deny any part of me treatment and that means chemo. You have to be off chemo 4 weeks for surgery and then during recovery and that would allow too much time right now for problems and I agree with that. I have not been back on it long enough to know anything about how it is working and now the regimen will change.

So, chemo for 3 months and back up there for scans and talk.

Are we disappointed? Probably some. However, I do not feel like I would have been up to a big surgery in the next four weeks and the Lord knew this. I truly believe that. I could have gotten ready but I would rather take three months than one. Of course, we want the chemo to work and not be so harsh.

He also talked about the fluid. He wants that more under control and again said the permanent catheter because it will help me feel better, so that is what I am going to do. Although the fluid is getting better and I am happy about that.

He said that I am not wasting away, which I have been very worried about and that with the catheter and extra attention to nutrition, Cathie, I should be fine in that department. That was a blessing to hear. I am very thankful for my Naturapathic Dr. who is helping me with this and my mom is here to fix me food. However they did weigh me with every ounce of clothing I walked in with: coat, sweatshirt, everything. But Blazer could look at me and tell too; he is not dumb.

We are at peace and agree with what Dr. Blazer said. So now we pray for chemo success and that they find God's regimen for me. But I am not even that worried about that because I know He will provide it.

Catherine