Mom was supposed to be on chemo for the week of Thanksgiving,
but her Oncologist let her have the week off. Because of the shift in
scheduling we were able to enjoy Thanksgiving AND Christmas without the stress
of fighting traffic and we could just enjoy being in the moment with the
holidays, and spend time with all of our loved ones.
Mom just started back up on Monday the 29th,
this is her sixth and final round of the Ifosfamide (IFX) treatment. Because of where she is at in her treatment,
she could possibly plateau on her medication. She is at her strongest in her
treatment right now, surgery would be best at this point (surgery would be
needed to debulk the rest of the leftover cancerous masses). IF they continue
the medication we would have to monitor Moms bone marrow, because that much
condensed chemotherapy for such a long time, will diffuse her marrow completely
and the doctors don’t want that to happen.
At this
moment there are many theoretical paths we can take. But the one we choose will
be more concrete once we see what her finals scans show. Those are scheduled
for the end of January, and we’re hoping for more shrinkage!
Theoretical Path 1: The scan shows no
improvement, Mom will have surgery to debulk.
Theoretical Path 2: The scan shows improvement,
Dr. Chawlas team will change up Moms chemotherapy agents to completely kill
what is left.
We have gone to a couple different surgeons, to
get a rounded out look at all angles.
One Surgeon has told us he would not do surgery
until a year after chemotherapy treatment, because Moms cancer had metastasized
to multiple locations including major bones, even though the scan shows that it
is cleared, there could be the possibility that there is some residual.
Another Surgeon has told us that he would be
able to go in after a short 4 week break from any chemotherapy treatment she is
currently on and take out the 11mm mass in her left abdomen and create a team
of surgeons including a Urologist to look at the mass on her ureter which
measures (1.8cmx2.3cmx8cm). Depending on how it looks when they open her up,
and how easy it is to detach the mass from the ureter they may possibly cut the
whole mass with the ureter included and fashion mom a new part to connect to
the ureter.
We have not stopped looking at other surgeons,
now that our timeline isn’t pressed, we have more time to take and shop for a
special surgeon, who’s going to help us cross this finish line. If we can ask
for some prayers to help us find the right person, that would be greatly
appreciated!! :-)
Big Hugs-
XO Steph
