Good News and Bad News

Unfortunately, the Bad News is badder than the Good News is gooder.

First the good news. I don't have to have another surgery. No GoLytely. No IVs. No NG tubes. No drains. No "other things" that makes surgery and recovery, shall we say, unpleasant.

Now the bad news.We heard back from the doctor in Omaha concerning my recent CT scan and it looks like there are new spots of cancer. 2 in the lungs. Recurrence in the splenic bed (where my spleen used to be), and the tumor on the mesantary is enlarged. That means that the treatment that I had before, both the chemo and the radiation didn't do a lot of good. Probably the thing that hit us the hardest was when the doctor said the Signet Ring cells were starting to act like Signet Ring cells. For those of you that don't know, Signet Ring cells are the most aggressive cells of PMP. I have had them from the beginning (over 6 years ago), and the doctors have been amazed that I was still around. That means that for some reason, they weren't acting like the normally do. But, now they are.

So, with the new tumors, surgery isn't really an option as the doctor would not be able to do a complete cydoreduction (i.e. remove all the tumor). This leaves us with two options. 1) Do nothing and just watch and wait. Enjoy life and try to get in as much "living" as possible before the symptoms start becoming too bad. Or 2) try more chemotherapy and biological agents. There is one "cocktail" I have not had which is a combination of Irinotecan (chemo) and Erbitux (bilogical - not chemo), which may help keep the tumors at bay. We know they will not kill the cancer, all we would be able to hope for is that it would keep the cancer from growing. However, we would have no idea how long it would be effective. Also, we don't know how it would effect my quality of life. Would it drain my energy? Would it keep me from being able to travel, or ride my Harley? If so, would it be worth it to go through all of that just to be "house ridden" for who knows how long?

Lots of questions, not many answers right now.

The news hit us both pretty hard, especially as it was the news that we were hoping NOT to get.

Roni and I have been married for over 18 years, and we often talked about visiting Australia for our 20th anniversary so I could show Roni where I lived over there. We are currently considering making that trip this year. Maybe in April or May. If we go, we will fly to Brisbane and rent a car and drive north to Charters Towers. It would be good to see some of my friends from my high school days, and see how much things have changed, or stayed the same since I left. If we make the trip, we will be sure to keep everyone updated, and will be sure to take A LOT of pictures.

I am sorry to even have to bring you this news about my cancer, but knew eventually I would have to post something like this. We appreciate your prayers and know that G-d will be with us during this leg of the journey as He has been all along. We don't know what the future holds, but we do know who holds the future.

I'll write more later, but for now, at least we have one more day...