Jeanine's newest update

Jeanine and I took a trip to Minnesota about a week ago and came home with what sounds like good news. She went to the Mayo clinic in Rochester with the idea that they would check to see if removing the diseased part of her liver would lengthen her life and provide some disease-free time.

After checkups by the liver surgeon and throat doctor and a consultation with the oncologist there, they decided that she should come back in 6 weeks. At that time, she will get the appropriate tests to see if she is a candidate for surgery. From her old PET scan and CAT scans, they thought that it was a viable solution. Of course, after 8 weeks without chemo treatment, it is possible the cancer will have grown, but even that did not seem to deter them.

The problem has always been that the cancer is not considered to be just in her liver, but also in a lymph node in her chest. The interesting thing is that the spot in her lymph node doesn't seem to have grown. They are wondering if it is cancer at all. They also wondered if it was not a problem with the lymph node, but with the thyroid. If it is a lymph node, it is inoperable because of the consistency of that node and it's position in relation to lungs, windpipe, etc. If it is the thyroid, it is very much operable. Regardless, the liver doctor said that he was ready to operate despite what happens with the lymph node/thyroid issue.

So we are guardedly optimistic. The oncologist did say that the cancer will return sooner or later, but hopefully she will have some time pain free, disease free, and drug free.