Hi everyone:
I got some great (and scary) news from Dr. Fong (my surgeon) today. He called and talked to me so I don’t have to go into NY on Monday.
Here’s the scoop: he’s “pretty sure” he can perform the surgery now. If the tumor is still too dangerous to remove completely he’s “pretty sure” he can burn it or electrocute it and kill the cancer cells. That means the big surgery. He says it’s up to me how aggressive I want to be. But he can’t say how clean my margins will be if I have the surgery now.
I told him the chance of recurrence is high enough. I want him to be “confident” that he can get it all and give me clean margins. Since I have an appt. with Dr. Kemeny (my onc) on the 1st hopefully he can talk her into giving me another chemo even though I have the sac of fluid in my abdomen. If she agrees, hopefully the tumor will shrink ANOTHER .5 cm and Dr. Fong can be “confident” he can remove the whole tumor.
He says he never says he CAN because Hubris is a sin. And if he’s too confident, God will laugh at him. And I don’t want to be the patient on the table when God decides to prove him wrong. So I want to be aggressive but I also want to be smart about it. If it’s still wrapped around the vena cava too much, that’s too dangerous and I might not get clean margins. So although I want the surgery (GULP) I also want clean margins.
Hopefully I’m making the right choice. He seemed happy with my decision, so I’m pretty “confident” that I am! I know I need the surgery, and a lot of people on here say to get it out as soon as possible but I have the vena cava to worry about and I want clean margins more than I want quick surgery.
Also, my parents will come up to PA to help me when I have surgery, but I don’t want them worrying about snow if possible.
Kris