Uncharted territory

Well, it seemed like the doctors in New York were not giving us a lot of detail over the phone or in e-mail. Having extra support seemed like a good idea, so as we left the house Tuesday morning around 11am I made a call requesting my brother Corry from New Jersey join us for the 4:00pm doctor's appointment. Corry managed to leave work, go home, pack a bag and meet us four hours later in the city.

At the appointment we did get the full detail and it was more than we expected (and more than we really wanted to hear). The full report identifies multiple metastases in her liver and multiple metastases in her skeletal structure (hip, thigh and a few others). Well, that explains the hip pain which she has been experiencing! Apparently having cancer in your bones can be very painful. Fortunately, Robin's been able to tolerate some pain meds and has been using them once or twice a day.

The doctor explained that having metastases in the liver does not immediately impede its function, well I guess that's the good news??? The cancer which has taken up residence in her bones can lead to fractures. He recommended x-rays to check the integrity of the each of the bone sites.

He has suggested a chemo protocol which is geared toward fighting metastases. He was pretty blunt, explaining that he doesn't know if a fatal complication might arise in the next month or two. He said a patient can be on chemo for up to six months then would need to take a break. The new protocol is still administered every 21 days. He said after about eight weeks we could expect to do another PET-CT to document what impact the chemo is having. He said we might find signs of remissions, but we might also find that the cancer has continued to spread (thus the heading "uncharted territory").

Robin's teaching me to find at least one positive thing in each day. My positive finding for today is that these news sites don't appear to be growing as fast as the cancer had in her cheek!!

She (and her fellow cancer patients) still have their sense of humor. Robin suggested we might be getting dehydrated from having teary eyes. A fellow cancer patient from Atlanta wrote to Robin asking why she is wanting to develop these new "hot spots" in her body and accusing Robin of contributing to global warming!

We're still hopeful that we'll be able to have some impact on the cancer and can't wait to start the chemo! Friday we meet the oncologist in our hometown and then we'll have more details.

We arrived home today (Wednesday). We're going to make dinner and relax for the evening!