Well rested after getting home.

Man! It felt so good to be back in my own bed last night! I slept like a baby.

So...here we go with the "action" stuff.

Wednesday I go in for a left hepatectomy. What that means is they're going to take about 40% of my liver out. Some weight loss plan huh? The surgery will take about three to five hours to complete with about three to four hours recovery time. I may or may not end up in the I.C.U. following the surgery. That all depends on how well things go. Dr. Visser, my surgeon, feels confident that everything will go quite nicely. He did, however, point out that "things" can happen while they are in there. Stanford takes a very conservative approach to care and recovery, airing on the side of caution. So, if I wake up and hear the bells and whistles of I.C.U., I don't need to freak out.

I'll be spending five to seven days in the hospital. I get my first day off after surgery. Thursday, the real fun starts as I begin attempting to move from my bed to my chair. Friday might bring walks down the hall and even maybe some food!

I'm making light of this, but it's going to be a really hard haul this time. This is major stuff, but I'm confident that I have what it takes mentally and physically to make a rapid and good recovery.

After I return home, I will have home recovery of about five to six weeks during which time my liver will begin to regenerate. The liver will not take on it's old familiar shape, but will "poof" out returning to the same volume it was prior to the surgery.

Every three months or so, I will return for another CT scan to make sure I don't have more cancer again. That will continue until the folks at Stanford get sick of seeing me ;-). Then I'll be marked as a "free man" so to speak.

The hospital is both cell phone and computer friendly. So, I'll be able to post while I'm there to tell you how much fun I'm having!

CT yesterday - Surgeon Today

Yesterday I had to do a new CT scan to check on tumor growth. More blood work as well.

Today, we meet with the surgeon.

I'm pooped. It's been a long week and I"m ready to head home.

Just for kicks, while killing time waiting for our appointment time, we took up driving in San Fransisco and finally found our way to the "Rock". Neat tour!

Slept like a baby last night! No loud neighbors.. girl-friend did good!

Yesterday at Stanford

Yesterday Julie and I met Dr. Fisher. After a brief check-in with the front desk (should I mention they had their act together?), we were led to quite possibly the warmest exam room I have ever visited.


Briefly, Dr. Fisher shared with us a number of options and scenarios. But he seemed to indicate the based on my good health, the early detection and the location of the tumor, that removal by surgery is a likely course of action.

He said that the surgeon had already looked at my CT scan and pet scan. The surgeon indicated that if no great amount of tumor growth has happened, then we will move on it.


Today's events:
A fresh CT scan to confirm that the tumor hasn't grown too much and more bloodwork. Then, maybe back to Chico or perhaps an appointment with another doctor on Friday. If we don't get an appointment tomorrow, we get to come back next week.


NOTE: Girlfriend picks motels from here on out. I finally gave up at 4am and threw a Carman "fit" at the neighbor who seemed to think that shouting a conversation with his wife all night long was ok. We never have this problem when Julie picks the rooms.

At Redwood City

We made it to Redwood City yesterday, though before the morning had passed, I was beginning to wonder.

I phoned the staff to make arrangements to pick up the files, slides and cd's that were going to be ready on Friday. (Couldn't pick them up Friday because the office left for an early long weekend). No answer, or a busy signal... I guess that was understandable after the 3 day weekend.

I drove over to the office, and requested the files. The office worker was surprised that I was going a day in advance (even though the worker was sitting right there when the doctor suggested I do just that. She checked to see if someone else had already copied the files. The files had not been copied. So, I offered to return 2 hours later to give the worker time to complete the task. THEN she reached into her desk, rifled through a stack of Post-It notes, found the one with my name and the instructions for my files and went to work.


Just a suggestion: Post-It notes are for helping you remember. They are not a project management system, and they probably aren't much help if they are in a stack in your drawer. a stack! About the size of a pack of cigarettes. Sheesh.


I return, and one of the two copies I was promised was ready. That's ok... I have a copying machine. I asked if the slides from the biopsies where there. The worker just glazed over! Oh my god! This cannot be happening to me! Office mate, also glazed over, got on the phone. 20 minutes later, I'm directed to pick up the slides myself across town.


This office must be one of the rings in Dante's inferno. I'm quite positive I am paying for past transgressions.


Sheesh! Today is going to be better! Stanford can't be that bad.

Moving right along!

I go to Stanford Cancer Center early next week. It'll be an all day event to meet with a specialist who who take the history, slides and CDs with my scan results and add to that a history he will start with a question and answer period as well as a brief examination.


That doctor will release us for a while the team meets to discuss my options for liver treatment as well as confirm the suggested chemo course of action for the pancreas.


Now... just gotta get those files from the oncologist!

The best night sleep in a long time...

Last night I slept like a rock! Man I feel like a million bucks!

Later this morning, I'll be posting a longer version of what will be happening in the next few weeks.

Freakin Yeah!

Ok… VERY short form here….

My PET/CT scan came back negative.
All of my blood work with one exception came back negative.

The marker for the pancreas came back elevated. It’s supposed to be 30 something, it was 300 something. That means that my pancreas may or may not have the cancer. Odds are, the pancreas does have cancer, and that it’s so tiny it cannot be seen with our equipment. THAT’S GOOD!

Ok… so I’m in a box that most people don’t get put into because of an accidental find during that ultrasound.

I will be going to Stanford to get a secondary consult to discuss treatment options for the liver tumor as well as chemo options to address the elevated marker.

Liver treatment will take place at Stanford. Chemo here.
The type of chemo (I can’t recall the name) is well handled… won’t lose my hair… may feel blah the next day.

VERY FREAKING COOL!