July 10, 2024
We went to sleep last night with extreme scanxiety and woke up with the same. So much so, I asked for thoughts and prayers for David on FB this morning of all things. I NEVER do things like that but woke up with it on my heart. Literally, the first thought I had. I didn’t over think it and just asked. The anxiety of the scans was something we couldn’t shake no matter how we tried to makes jokes, cry it out, or find positives. I guess I am feeling an increasing desperation over this situation.
We headed out for Newnan early this morning. We had to park a good distance away but the very nice parking lot golf cart guy offered to pick us up and carried us right to the front door. It was a sunny, breezy morning with low humidity which doesn’t last in July or in Georgia but it was nice for a bit. We were delighted to find out that they were going to do both scans at the same time. They called David back pretty quickly and he was back before I was able to get too deep into work emails. We left and the same golf cart guy picked us up and carried us back to our car. Like valet in reverse. We were scheduled to video chat with Dr. N at 11, so we didn’t have time to get all the way back home before the call. We opted to head over to Piedmont Fayette to pick up his prescription at the Cancer Institute and wait for the call. Before we made it out of Newnan we had the scan results. I was hesitant to read it but David was ready. So he read, and I drove. It was a short narrative that did not sound too bad. Basically, it said a few of the tumors in his liver have increased slightly in size but there was no indication of new involvement. The nodules in the lungs are very small and there was no indication of new involvement there either. We were a bit relieved since we had prepared ourselves for more bad news. Over in Fayetteville, we found a little table tucked out of the way in the cafe and set up the laptop to wait. Dr. N was late signing on, but we expected that since he was coming from surgery. When he appeared on the screen, he chatted a moment and then we got into it. He showed us the scans and pointed out the tumors he saw and the ones in the areas that were ablated a few weeks ago. He said he would like to present the scans and the case to the tumor conference this Friday in Atlanta and get recommendations from the group. He is in favor of more surgery and feels he can cut them out. The hope would be that they didn’t return because each surgery becomes more difficult. We discussed some other options and he said he would speak to us again after the conference met. He asked us to let his PA know what Dr. K thought after the call this afternoon. So we headed out to grab some lunch before the 1 pm call. We hurried through lunch to get back in the car and be ready for the call. It wasn’t a video chat, so we just needed the phone. Dr. K was also a bit late finishing up a procedure and his PA let us know he would be in touch shortly. We decided to go get ice cream while we waited. Who doesn’t love melty ice cream in the car when waiting on a call from your doctor about the cancer in your liver? The PA called us back to tell us that the scans looked good to them and the ablated tumors were gone with no appearance of residual disease where they were located. This was good news of course. He discussed the plan Dr. K had for moving forward, and we told him about our conversation with Dr. N. He said the two doctors would most likely want to talk before Friday and said we would wait and see what the tumor board recommends. He said having options is a good thing, and we agreed. David was starting to feel a bit rough, and we headed on home.
