wonderful news...if you ask me!

I've been dying to share some good news!

We (my mom and I) went to my cancer center yesterday for my appointment. I was expecting to get there around 9:45 and leave by noon. This did not happen. We did not walk out of the cancer center till about 2:30. A LONG DAY.

After getting there and getting my mediport accessed (which was a big hurdle for me...I was nervous about this), I went to meet with my doctor. I love my doctor. Dr. R is great. He reminds me of Walter Matthau. He never gets very excited. He is very monotoned and about 70 years old. Just a sweet old grandpa type that you just feel comforted by. So imagine him like this while I tell the story...



We were seated in a room to meet with him. Test results were to be given...yeah, the test that was going to cost me 3200.00, but luckily my favorite oncologist Dr. R was going to take care of that with the insurance company for me, telling me that I WOULD NOT have to pay for it (I didn't mention that...but this in itself is great news too).

So Dr. R. walks in the room and says HI to us and goes over to the sink to wash his hands. While he is washing up, he says (in his monotoned voice), "well...this is very complicated. I'm not sure how to tell you this." (my mom and I look at eachother and kinda start to panic) He proceeds: "let me go get the print out on the test result to go over it with you." He leaves the room... we start to freak! I'm pretty sure at this point we were convince I had some freaky rapid growing cancer and would parish in the near future. LUCKILY WE WERE WRONG!

This test is to determine the reoccurance rate of my cancer. The score to be given is a number from 1-100. The lower the number the better your chance for NO reoccurance.

He walks back in the room. Pauses. (for quite some time) Then says, "well, this is very complicated..." I'm like GET TO THE POINT BUDDY!!! My doctor that I love so much is taking his sweet time to tell me some very awful news... Well, to put this story in my tone and give you the report in a reasonable time, because If I gave it to you in Dr. R's time it would take forever. Here is what I found out:

1. My tumor/mass that was removed is very odd!!! I would say odd in a good way. Dr. R would not agree. Dr. R. informed us that the actual tumor is a stage 1!!!! That is awesome news for me. Dr. R would not agree. The reason it was classified a stage 2 is that once the tumor perforates the bowel or obstructs it (which mine did) it is now considered a stage 2. But the actual tumor itself is a stage 1.

2. The score on my test result was a 31. (I would say say good news, Dr. R would not agree) The reoccurance rate WITHOUT taking chemotherapy after 3 years is 16%. (also not bad...and again, Dr. R would not agree!)

3. Dr. R told me that he could not argue with me if I decided not to take the Chemo since it is not the recommended treatment for a stage 1 cancer, but that since I was willing (I didn't know I had a choice till yesterday) to take the chemo it would just be an added insurance to me in the future for reoccurance.

4. Dr. R is consulting with a specialist at the Mayo clinic to discuss my case. At this point, Dr. R is recommending only to do 4 months of chemo! (AMAZING news...I think Dr. R agreed with me) I am hoping after he talks to the specialist that the amount of chemo is less than that!

So... to me, all this was great news. Of course to Dr. R who never gets excited, didn't agree with me...stating you just never know. Whatever that means. I think he just doesn't like to agree with me!

So, as it turns out... I may only have to do Chemo for 4 months, give myself 1 month to recover from the Chemo and then be able to do my reversal surgery, which will be another journey in itself.

Dr. T my surgeon has already informed me that the next surgery will be almost twice as long as the first, so therefore it will be about 6 hours. He said it will be more complicated, which is why he will have another surgeon in there with him, because his exact words were "taking you apart is the easy part, putting you back together is much more difficult"...aghhhhhh Thanks Dr. T!!! Along with that, my scar will have 2 more inches added to it, to make it THE LARGEST SCAR IN THE WORLD... ok, not really, but if it were on you...you would think that too! :) But, on a positive note... I can get rid of that dang colostomy! Did I mention I hated that???

Chemo wasn't too bad. I thought it would be worse. At this point I have definitely had some strange side effects... mostly related to the cold. I can not drink or eat anything cold while on the chemo. I found that out last night first hand. I dipped a fry in ketchup that was cold and my throat started to swell shut. At least it felt like that. I started to choke, my eyes watered and I almost panicked till I remember that the chemo nurse told me when that happens to just take some breaths and it would go away. Along with that, drinking any water with a hint of cold to it, does the same thing. I am hoping once the pump is disconnected this side effect will go away! I also dished out some ice cream for my mom and my husband, and when i touched it with my finger to get it off the ice cream scoop, it felt like I had an electric shock! WIERD. I have only taken 2 doses of antinausea medicine...I am doing ok. I can tell I get worn out quickly, and just need to sit for a bit. But really, overall this hasn't been horrible. I am hoping it stays this way! Wouldn't that be wonderful. Remember, I have an almost 2 year old to keep up with!!!

Thank you all for your continued thoughts and prayers. They keep me positive and things are looking better already!

~Today I smiled when I got to go to lunch with my mom and my friend Kim.
~Today I smiled because I got to get my baby up this morning and dressed and took her to daycare for the first time!
~Today I smiled because the sun is shining and it is SOOOOOO nice out.

Today has been a good day...tomorrow will be even better.