Liver Surgeon

Jeanine went to see the liver surgeon this week despite objections that her Oncologist expressed to her in a phone conversation the previous Friday. Her Oncologist told her that her chemo was working so there was no need to operate.

She got mixed results from the surgeon. He told her that he could see no reason that he couldn't remove the right lobe of her liver. It would be a very major surgery with a significant recovery time, but he could do it. But... he also told her that he would not do it without her Oncologist's approval. He told her that her Oncologist was a great doctor and he must have a good reason why he felt she shouldn't get a portion of her liver removed. He told her to go back to her Oncologist and find out why. He suggested that there might be other indicators of her cancer having spread beyond the liver that she has not heard about.

For the first time, we also heard the reason that no one has suggested a PET scan, a major indicator of the presence of cancer cells through out the body. We were told that kidney cancer does not react to the radioactive glucose that is the major part of the PET scan's ability to diagnose cancer.

So... Jeanine has an appointment to see her Oncologist next week. We'll see what he has to say. In the meantime, her pain is lessening and she finds herself able to cut back on her pain meds. Hopefully this does mean that her chemo is working.