Mom update

Good afternoon all, just wanted to send an update on a few recent development in the oncologist search. Mom has an appointment on Tuesday Feb 15th with Dr. Makkar, the Hillcrest oncologist that was recommended by Dr. Wu and that has seen mom several times already. She also will be seen on Tuesday Feb 8th by Dr. Krishnamurthy, an oncologist at University Hospitals that was recommended to us by several other physicians. While we are at UH, we will also have a consultation with Dr. Meropol, who is an internationally recognized expert in colon oncology, and who seems to be the top colon oncologist in Cleveland. He was actually suggested by Dr. Saltz, an oncologist we were trying to see at Sloan Kettering in NYC, who told us there's no point in mom coming to NYC if she can be seen by Dr. Meropol. Anyway, so looks like we have a good array of doctors lined up.

On another note, I wanted to mention how amazing the support that mom has received from her students, colleagues, and friends has been. Mom was so incredibly happy about the cards signed by her students (especially the GIANT one), and she studied them very carefully for a long period of time. Yesterday a book came in the mail from mom's student Ben Leb. It is called "Inside of a Dog," and it's about what and how dogs think. Very cute, and a very touching gesture - much appreciated by mom. When she spoke to Ben he told her that her students were all going to try their best to get 5's on the AP exam for mom. She was truly touched by that. Mom really appreciates all of the people concerned about her, especially the people on this list. Thank you all for making mom happy!

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Mom's out of the hospital!

Hi all,

Mom is out of the hospital and doing great at home. When she got home, she immediately started trying to clean, but of course she is not allowed to do any heavy lifting or strenuous work so she has enlisted Wenjun as a helper in her daily routine. She is feeling very comfortable, and is totally off pain medicine. We are very happy to have our mom back at home, and looking forward to getting her completely cured!

The surgical pathology report is back and it indicates that there the cancer was present in the lymph nodes embedded in the blood vessels that surround the colon. So, that means a stage III diagnosis (to use the medical nomenclature it is T3/N2b/M0). We were certainly very disappointed to find out these results, especially after we heard from Dr. Wu that he did not see anything obviously wrong with the lymph nodes (though he emphasized many times that that did not mean there was no cancer spread to the nodes). But also we were thankful that there is no evidence of stage IV disease, or metastasis to any other organs such as the liver or lungs (Dr. Wu looked at the liver from the inside and mom got a chest CT to check her lungs).

So, the next steps are to find the right oncologist to oversee mom's treatment with chemotherapy. Chemo will last for 6 months and will be delivered in 2-day doses every two weeks using a pump mom will wear on her body. The doctors tell us that this chemo is not "so bad", and should not cause terrible bouts of nausea or har loss. So we are thankful for that. The chemo will begin in about two weeks.

We are looking forward to getting mom treated and cancer-free!

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Mom is leaving!

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Good news!

Mom had a CT scan of her lungs done today and it came back with no sign of metastatic cancer, so we're very happy. It did show some atelectasis, meaning she still has some fluid in her lungs from the surgery. But that just means she needs to be coughing and using the incentive spirometer more, and it's expected after surgery. But we're so excited about this added confirmation that her cancer has not spread to any distant organs!

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Chicken

Alla had chicken (solid food!) and grits this afternoon for lunch. She had to wait to eat or drink because she got a CAT scan done.

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Oncologist visit

Hi all,

Just a quick update on Dr. Makkar's visit this morning. He came to talk to mom and Ellen and I harassed him at length about all the questions we had. He is almost certain that he will recommend a course of chemotherapy, which will be FOLFOX - the standard chemo course for colon cancer. Though generally chemo is usually advised for stage III and up, he feels that chemo is advisable in this case regardless of stage given that cancers that cause obstructions are usually more aggressive.

Mom will have a port put in and walk around with a pump that will deliver the medicine over several days. According to the doctor, this chemotherapy is relatively mild in terms of side effects and should not cause extreme nausea or hair loss, which is great. Ellen is also working on lining up bigshot doctors as MSKCC and Columbia to get a second opinion from.

Mom is feeling good today and had her IV port taken out. She just took a shower with Wenjun's help, and is waiting for a cat scan (to check her lungs for any issues). She is not allowed to eat due to the upcoming cat scan, but she is not terribly hungry.

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Evening update

Tonight is the first night mom will spend in the hospital on her own. She was very comfortable today - moving around and taking care of herself with hardly any help, so we decided it would be okay to let her rest overnight on her own. Wenjun and I will be at her room bright and early though, and I will spend a part of the the day working from the hospital.

We are looking forward to a big day tomorrow, when mom should be visited by Dr. Vinit Makkar, a staff oncologist at Cleveland Clinic who comes highly recommended by several of our medical contacts. However, this discussion is likely to be only a preliminary one as the pathology report is not expected until Wednesday.

Good night all!

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