Me...

So people ask about the medical stuff, and I guess I haven't said much lately. It has seemed like more of the same. Work, home, chemo, repeat as necessary. I've been managing to work full time except for my chemo days. I finished my 8th chemo cycle last week. The side effects are somewhat cumulative, so it has been a little harder as we go along. The fatigue is a little worse, the neuropathy in my hands and feet is more significant. But overall, it's still all really manageable.

I guess I've been hesitant to write because I've been working on a plan and I still don't know if it will work out. I'm flying to Washington, DC at the end of the month to meet with a surgeon about the HIPEC surgery I mentioned a few times before. I've been on again and off again, but I know feel that it offers my best/only chance at some type of curative result. The best chance still only has a 25% success rate (in terms of 5-yr survival), but that's better than 8%.

So I'm on the schedule for surgery July 21st, tentatively. A bad scan between now and then could derail everything, but I can't go there. The surgery is rough, probably 12 hours in the OR and then 30 days recovery in the hospital in DC. You can read about the surgery and recovery here, on the surgeon's website. It's a little scary, lots of tubes. One of my internet friends refers to it as the MOAS - Mother Of All Surgeries. I'm guessing it will make my 3 c-sections look like a walk in the park.

That's it, the new plan. I'm probably in for a few more rounds of chemo before the surgery, but they have to stop about a month before the actual operation. Chemo inhibits your body's ability to heal and you need to be able to heal after the surgery. Then post-surgery, I'll probably have about 8 weeks recovery before resuming chemo for another 6 rounds.

Sean will likely stay with me in DC for a few weeks post-surgery. Then I think I'll send him home and some friends can come sit by my bedside and cater to my every whim.

Thanks as always for the kind notes, cards, packages, food, prayers that continue to bless us every day. Having you all here to support us through this journey means the world.