Back to Work

I had to go to work today. That was so much harder to do than you might think. I haven't actually worked since last Tuesday, you know, when life was great and there was no such thing as cancer or metastasis or surgery or MRI or PET scans or oncologists . . . or rectal probing.

We are really trying to find humor where ever we can with this trip. Sometimes it is pretty easy, sometimes not so much.

We were sitting in the kitchen talking with the boys and Johnny was saying how important it will be for them to get checked early and that he is going to make sure his brothers all get checked soon. Quinn said, "Geez, dad, your what I'd call the Rear Admiral." Rear Admiral Toad, I like that.

Yesterday was our consultation with the surgeon, Dr. Delle Donne. I can see where some people might think he is cocky, but I think his confidence comes across that way. After he walked in, he asked us what we knew, because there was no point in going over what we already had been told. I think he wanted to hear it from us so that he could determine our aptitude for medical jargon. He didn't know who he was messing with, did he?

He confirmed what we said and then told us what he thought would happen. In his opinion, chemotherapy needs to start before we even consider removing the tumor from the colon. Theoretically, the chemo will shrink the lesions in the liver and the tumor in the colon, thus making surgery easier . . . I may have mentioned all this before. . . bear with me.

We were presented with our "Best Case"/"Worst Case" scenarios:

Best Case: The chemo starts and in 3-6 months Johnny gets another scan to see how the liver and colon are doing. Hopefully it is a matter of possibly removing a few lesions from the liver and the colon tumor. Johnny will have a stoma (temporary colonostomy) until the site of the surgery heals. After a few months the stoma will be reversed and all is well.

Worst Case: Chemo doesn't do much, colon tumor is removed so that there aren't any issues with obstruction along the way. Johnny would receive a permanent colostomy in this case and we continue with chemo/additional treatment until we have exhausted our resources.

OBVIOUSLY, I am planning on the Best Case scenario. Obviously.

The surgeon told Johnny that it is going to suck for a year. Really, that is a direct quote:

"It is going to suck for a year." -- Dr. Delle Donne.

But, he told Johnny that guys "like him" do great. Evidently if you are butt-smokin' hot, this isn't too big of an issue. Who knew his hot body and great looks would make chemo easier. Hey, I'm all for it!

He told Johnny to stay "thin" (relative term, as he had just removed the appendix of a 400-pound man) and to start training like this was the Olympics. Minimum exercise requirement is 1 mile a day and he should do more on the days that he can. This is where it will be great to involve the boys. We have YMCA memberships that have been slightly neglected since spring, so we will dust off our cards and head back.

He asked if we had children and their ages. His rule of thumb for screening children is parent's age at diagnosis minus 20 years. Lets do the math together: 43 (on the frickin' dot) - 20 = 23. Then he said, "I would actually recommend getting a baseline colonoscopy for them at 18." Hehehe . . . I couldn't wait to tell the Rear Admiral's oldest son that. We figured that would be good because at 18 both of the boys will still be in school and on our insurance. They will still be under our control (isn't that what parents of 18-year-olds like to think? that they are still the ones in control?). You can just imagine how excited the boys were to get the news! Quinn has a count down started . . . only 4 1/2 years to go. Jake is hoping that the Star Trek medical scanners are up and running by the time he needs one and they only have to pass the probe over him rather than in him when the time comes. Who knows, right?

Then, very matter-of-factly the dr. said, "Well, your definitely going to need a port, so we might as well put that in on Friday." (A port is a semi-permanent access to the vein that will be inserted under the skin up by the clavicle. This will allow multiple accesses without multiple needle pokes.) Well, ok then.

We had the MRI yesterday and will know the results when we see Dr. Ansari. We had a couple changes to our schedule based on insurance pre-certifications so the PET scan is on Thursday, port placement is on Friday and our visit to Dr. Ansari is on Monday. We get today and tomorrow off for good behavior.

I have had a lot of people ask me what made Johnny go to the doctor in the first place. I'll write another post tomorrow to fill in that information. I'll end this post now because I'm sure I have put everyone to sleep.

But, before I sign off I'd like to thank the 10-year-old All-Star team from Howard Township Baseball (WOOT!). You have now idea how much stopping by meant to Coach Brawley. Also, it seems we were visited by the Lawn Mowing Elf. Thanks a million . . . I feared for our yard and you rescued it! To Lonnie, I wish there was a bigger word than "thanks" but I haven't found it yet . . . And to everyone who stopped by with wine, food, wine, health supplements, and wine, I'd like to say (hiccup!) THANKS! Please keep praying, calling, stopping by to say hi, leaving comments, and smiling. All these things are so important in our fight.