More Appointments

Hi everyone--

Can you believe that it is November already? Can you believe we have a new president of the United States? Its crazy how time flys by....although for Doug I think that time is not going quickly enough! I wanted to write an update just to let everyone know whats up and how Doug is progressing in his recovery!

I guess the biggest news is that Doug just had his 8 week anniversary of his surgery on Tuesday! I can't believe that it has been two months. He is doing great---I think that he has really turned the corner and is starting to really feel better, and I'm so happy. There are still days where he doesn't feel great, and he gets tired easily, but its definitely an improvement from a month ago. Now we are working very hard to get some weight back on him--he's pretty skinny so he's a lucky guy right now as I always buy him all of the yummy fattening stuff he likes :-).

Last week we had an appointment with Doug's oncologist at UCONN--Dr. Upendra Hegde. Doug really liked him, and I did too. He of course is not a specialist in the field (no one is in our neck of the woods!) but he has been in contact with Dr. Sardi about Doug's case, and you could tell that he really had done his homework to learn what he could about Appendix cancer. He was very nice, and spent a good amount of time with us and even looked through Doug's latest CT scans with us to explain what and where everything is. He also started discussing with us what Doug's chemotherapy treatments would be like moving forward. It was just a preliminary conversation, and we are going back to see him this Friday morning to really finalize a plan. Dr. Hegde's initial plan is to do the FOLFOX regimen, which is the most common chemotherapy treatment for this type of cancer. He will go into the treatment center and receive IV chemotherapy for 90(? i think it was 90) minutes, and will then go home for the next two days with a chemotherapy pump--similar to an insulin pump. As always, I remain amazed about what science has come up with to make things easier for patients! They are two week cycles, and it looks like Doug will have to do this for 6-8 months. Side effects really vary from person to person, and we are keeping optimistic that Doug will not have an adverse reaction to the treatments!

Dr. Hegde wants Doug to start this treatment right away, and in order to make things easier, he had to have a port installed. So yesterday we headed over to UCONN bright and early for a minor surgical procedure (Well, everything is minor to him at this point!). They basically install a port directly under the skin of his shoulder which has a catheter that is threaded through a vein--basically it allows chemo to be administed directly through this port--like a central line. It keeps him from having to be stabbed in the arm by needles every time he has to get treatment or have blood drawn. So once again I had to watch them wheel my boyfriend away from me to have surgery :-(. But the procedure was no big deal, we went in at 7:30 and were on our way home by 11:15--that had to be a record for hospital time! he's a little bit sore but other than that no biggie--he didn't even get stitches!

So now that the port is in, we will see Dr. Hegde on Friday morning and take it from there! The doctor was going to speak with a friend of his at Yale Cancer Center to discuss Doug's case, jsut to get another oncologist's opinion. He will also have spoken to Dr. Sardi again, just to make sure that everyone is on the same page with Doug's treatment and to make sure everyone agrees that he is strong enough to begin. Its hard to think about him having to go through treatment just when he is starting to feel better---it doesn't seem fair. However, its what needs to be done and we know that. Doug is, as always, much tougher than me :-). I just don't want to see him sick and in pain anymore. But, I also know that this is what is going to make him better!

Like I said, Doug is feeling much better and we are starting to think about where we would like to go on vacation in the spring---we are thinking probably Las Vegas, and then perhaps somewhere with a beach next Fall. I think that after the last few months, we need to get away for some WELL deserved fun! I'll update again once we have a plan mapped out for Doug's treatments and what our schedule looks like.

In the meantime, please keep two other PMP families in your thoughts and prayers. Diana had her MOAS one week ago on 10/28, and Joyce had her MOAS yesterday---both with Dr. Sardi. They both have wonderful families surrounding them, and Doug and I are keeping them both in our thoughts and ask you to do the same.

Hope everyone is doing well!
Love,
Lindsey