Some More Info

Most of my last few posts have been related to the surgery and how well Karen is recovering. She’s doing great! But I’d like to share a few more details about the surgery itself, including what we hoped, and what we ultimately got.

The objective of the surgery last Friday was to remove the visible cancer, so that successive medication could keep new tumors from popping up. Unfortunately, they were not able to remove all the tumors. I’ll add some details below, but this is one of those things where you should feel free to stop right here if you don’t really want to know anything more.

The surgeon found that the cancer was much too pervasive, with tumor sizes ranging from a pinhead through the size of a quarter. These did not show up on the CT scans, but there were so many tumors that it was simply impossible to remove them. Instead, the surgeon concentrated on safely removing most of the tumors larger than a dime. He felt he could remove those without causing too much risk for complications. The tumors inside her bowel tract were not removed, as a bowel dissection caused too much risk with very little reward.

The surgery results weren’t what we hoped for. The bright side is that the surgeon has seen the cancer with his own eyes, and can use this to help make decisions that give Karen the best chance at remission. I asked him point blank after the surgery if remission was still his goal, and he said yes, that he would be very aggressive with the treatment. He didn’t sugar coat anything, but said he’ll fight as long as she would. We’re glad that he’s still committed to searching for the path to remission.

And as we look for the good in the bad, in this case I think it is because our surgeon immediately started using what he learned. He’s making decisions he would not have made if he didn’t have this new insight. He’s ordered a new genetic test, is evaluating various clinical trials, and setting up a treatment regimen. Positive mental attitude is sometimes hard to maintain, but we’re doing our best. Karen is a fighter, and so is our team at the Cleveland Clinic! Thank you all for your support!