I posted this late last night on the original diary but I wanted to re-post.
Good News!! So my wife and I met with my oncologist today. The man is ALWAYS on time. Today he was 30 minutes late. He did the usual exam, poking here, pushing there, make me take deep breaths, etc. Another 15 minutes. So 45 minutes of anxious waiting and he says...
Well, you have had a remarkable response to the chemo. We could not have anticipated results this good. We are beyond happy. The tumor in my colon has shrunk by about 2/3. The 14 spots on my liver are NO LONGER detectable on the PET scan. The spots on my lungs are still there, which makes him think they are not cancerous!
My kidney cancer may have grown a bit, but that is not unexpected, because the chemo I was on was not targetting the kidney at all.
So we will do another round of chemo on Monday, then I will meet with the surgical oncologist when he returns from vacation. I am still looking at colon surgery and kidney removal, likely the week of July 11. 5-10 days in the hospital, a month of recovery, and they still want to do liver surgery at this point. The doctor is still saying that we are getting and removing ALL of the cancer and we can only achieve that via surgery.
But it seems like that surgery may be less daunting now than it looked 10 weeks ago!
Several people had indicated they wanted an update. I can FEEL the positive energy and love from this crazy community. I made my wife read all your comments. I think she is starting to get the whole KOS thing.
Thank you to ALL of you who offered warm words, support and prayers. I still have a VERY long road ahead of me, but it at least looks like some of the BIG potholes have been filled in, and those that are left are less likely to swallow me whole.
Thank you again. Harry
