From Doom & Gloom To New Hope

Hello everyone,

If you spoke to me a week ago you realized I was not very happy. My last appointment with my Oncologist before round 8 of chemo led to the same conclusions as the fill in Oncologist the treatment before. The long and short was that I should not expect the tumour to shrink anymore and that the cancer was "asleep" right now. I was informed that my best outcome would be surgery but up to that point surgery had not been an option.

I returned to Liver Pancreas Surgery Unit at the Ottawa Hospital yesterday for my follow up appointment post the tumour board review of my case. The surgeon was very thorough and actually walked us through the pictures from my latest CT scan. It was nice to see and understand why they believed surgery would be so risky and possibly not successful. The tumour can't be in a worse place from a surgeons point of view. There are many blood vessels running in various directions from the main artery which makes access to the area difficult. In the end they are recommending surgery now which was a major shock to us, we did not expect to hear this news. It is a very positive step in my recovery but obviously comes with risk. They are confident that a portion of the tumour can be removed but not 100% sure that they will be able to remove everything. This will be unknown until they actually get in there and see what can be removed without compromising any blood supply to vital organs. They suggested we take a few days to review the risk and possible benefits and get back to them.

The decision was quite easy to make and I will proceed with the surgery. If I chose not to proceed my life would always be chemotherapy which does not appeal to me at all. The side effects have been worsening with the last few treatments and I do not believe this is something I could handle indefinitely. I will have round 9 of chemotherapy on October 12th and then take a break to prepare for surgery the first week of December. Approximately 6 weeks after surgery I will need to go back on chemotherapy for either a short period (if they are able to remove all of the tumour) or longer term if parts of the tumour remain.

I am very happy that new hope has arrived but obviously a little concerned about surgery. I should receive an exact surgery date in the next month or so and the plan will be a 5 day hospital stay post surgery and 4 to 6 weeks of recovery at home.

Bye for now,
Karen