Chemotherapy, Radiation, and Surgeon Appointment

Kathy started Chemotherapy and Radiation on Monday.  It took a while since it was her first time but now that everything is set up things should go much faster.  Her PICC line was put in on Friday and she said it was painless.  She goes to the cancer center on Mondays and they will dose her “fanny pack” for the entire week and then she goes in on Saturday and they remove it until Monday.  This type of chemo will not have many side effects other than nausea and fatigue.  She will do radiation every day (Monday-Friday) but it takes less than 5 minutes.  This round of Chemo and Radiation will be done on 6/21.

She had an appointment with the surgeon on Tuesday, the appointment went well.  She has another appointment with him on 7/18 and they will schedule a surgery date then. It will most likely be the end of July or early August. They've found if they wait a few weeks after chemo and radiation the tumor will continue to shrink.  The surgery will be done in Portland and she will be in the hospital for 5-6 days after. 

They also talked about doing a permanent colostomy.  He is leaving this decision up to Kathy.  He said that he can do his best to re-attach the colon; however, there are side effects to this, including numerous bowel movements and increased chance of infections.   He gave her all of her options and said she can take all the way up until the morning of the surgery to decide what she wants to do.  He said that many people have colostomies and you don’t know it.  In fact he treats a 30 year old male patient with one that is very active in sports and it doesn’t affect him.

Kathy has been treated so well through all of this.  She can’t say enough about all of the Doctors and Nurses she has seen.  They have all been so kind to her.  She knows she is in great hands.

Thanks again for all of your support and prayers.

Oncologist Appointment Information & Path Forward

Kathy had her endoscopic ultrasound Thursday morning.  She had to "prep" for the test and she got really sick.  And on top of it she had a migraine and was up basically all night-throwing up, none the less.  So the drive and appointment was not that great.  Luckily, Wendy and Emily were able to take her and they took great care of her! As soon as she got home and was able to take some Imitrex, eat and rest she felt a lot better. 

Her Oncology appointment was today and this is what they found out: 

The appointment went really well and Dr. O Brien seems like a great Oncologist. Next Friday she will have a pic line placed for the chemo that she will receive along with radiation. This should start a week from Monday and last for 5 weeks. After her 5 weeks of treatment they'll let her recuperate then surgically remove the tumor. After surgery she will have a colostomy bag which may end up being permanent, we'll have to wait and see. Afterward she will have a more intense round of chemo lasting 4 to 5 months. 

During this time she will be off of her RA drugs and will need to protect herself from the sun.

The tumor is very low, 1 cm away from the anal sphincter so a permanent colostomy bag may be imminent. 

Her Endoscopy staged the cancer at 3 since its grown into the wall of the rectal muscle.

Her CT Scan showed some very small nodules in the lungs which is common with RA, however, if they end up shrinking after chemo her cancer will be stage 4. Hopefully there is no change and it's related to her RA!

Dr. Mark Whiteford at Providence in Portland is a colorectal surgeon and will be removing the tumor. If possible he will also implant the port for the chemo she will receive after surgery.

Wendy was able to go with her and send me this information to post.  I hope we can keep it all straight! 

Thanks again for all of the prayers and support.  We are going to really need all we can get!

Waiting Game

We finally got the appointment scheduled for the Endoscopic ultrasound on Thursday at 6:30 am.  Yeah, way early! But at least it is scheduled.  She will then see the Oncologist on Friday at 3:30.  So, with that said we should know a lot more information by Friday evening.  More to come....