Status Update

I had a meeting with the oncologist yesterday. The good news is that tumor in my pelvis appears to have shrunk. I am pretty much done with all chemo side effects. Next round starts on Monday, May 10th. <yea.>

We got the oncologist to talk about Life after Chemo. It seems that one of the tumors in my lungs is pretty inoperable - it would require removal of at least the lobe it is in, if not the entire lung. He doesn't think that they will want to do that. They also aren't going to want to operate on the pelivic tumor if it has grown into the sacrum. This is because it would (a) cause paralysis (b) require a colostomy bag for the rest of my life (c) require rerouting my ureter so that it emptied into the colon, and thence to the colostomy bag.

So the bottom line is - if the tumor in my lung isn't gone after the last round of chemo, they aren't going to operate. Instead, I would get two or three months off, and then they would start me on a different kind of chemo. The only way that they will operate on the pelvis is if the lung tumor is gone, and if the tumor isn't in the sacrum.

On the other hand, if the tumor is gone in the lungs, and the tumor in the pelvis has retreated from the sacrum, they will operate within weeks of the end of chemo. He even used the "C" word . (CURE) Wow.