March 27, 2012

I attended Dad's Oncology appointment today. It was a long meeting with lots of options for Dad to think about. The source of the Cancer - in his esophagus is active, but is still very small considering the size it was at diagnosis. The cancer in his liver is 6.9cm. There is also cancer in a lymph node next to the liver. It is about 3.6cm. So far, this is all they are seeing. However, he has basically tried every Chemo that he can try at this point. The Cancer responds very well to the Chemo, but his Kidney has taken quite a hit. Therefore, they are unable to give him the stronger Chemo treatments. They can only give him a diluted version of Chemo due to the condition of his Kidney. His Cancer is not responding to the diluted version. The Cancer center in Salina is willing to try a couple more diluted versions, however the Doctor doesn't feel like they will be effective. Taking the time to try them could potentionally take away from valuable time that could have be spent trying something new. So, this was option one. Option 2 would be to go to KU Med Center and have the bad lymph node removed AND have the Cancer in his Liver blown away with one of a couple different methods. This would require recovery time - not much. However, the Cancer would likely return in another part of the liver or in another organ or lymph node. So, once again, he would be taking away from valueable time that could be spent trying something else. Option 3 would be to get a second/third opinion from the Cancer Center in Chicago and/or MD Anderson in Houston. Both of these centers have a variety of experimental drugs that may have better odds than taking his chances with the few options that he has left. The Doctor wants Dad to make a decision by Monday. He said that he needs to get moving. Dad has already contacted the Cancer Center in Chicago and plans to talk to MD Anderson in Houston. Hopefully, he'll know what he wants to do by Monday.


Much Love,
Shanon