The Best is Yet to Come – Frank Sinatra

Best is yet to come, and babe won’t that be fine?
You think you’ve seen the sun, but you ain’t seen it shine…

My last post was about how good my scans were…and they were…with one exception, my adrenal gland tumor (that stubborn *$&%).  It has grown to 9 cm and is pressing on my organs near my back.  Not painful mind you but uncomfortable.  All this time I thought that my back hurt because the cat has been sleeping on me and I can’t move most of the night.  Not so.

So on Tuesday, Dr. Staddon (my rock star) met with Dr. Nagda (my other rock star) and 10 other doctors met to discuss my films.  Dr. Nagda didn’t think radiation was an option due to the size and amount they would have to use AND chemo would have to be stopped.  Not an option.  Dr. Staddon said that due to the type and location of the tumor, operating was not an option.  However, two other doctors were there…investigational radiologists.  What is an IR Doctor? Well we had NO IDEA!  It’s a good thing that they were at the “roundtable” discussion on Tuesday because they came up with cryoablation.  Seriously, do I need to add more unrecognizable terms to my vocabulary?  I guess I do.

Well, that being said, my rock and I met with Dr. Fabrizio this morning (the Chief IR doc).  He’s not quite as young as Doogie Howser but definitely young enough to be our son.  Much to my surprise, he was extremely intelligent, jovial and very optimistic.  He took his time to show us my scans in detail, listened when we talked and answered questions that may have seemed trivial to him but important to us.  Needless to say, he’s hired !

So what’s next?  On Thursday morning, I go into Penn.  They do a CAT Scan to mark exactly where they are going to ablate.  I go into a starlight sleep (could use that right now actually).  While I’m sleeping, they take a tube and insert it into my back near my adrenal gland.  Once in position, they feed probes filled  with a freezing agent into the tumor (in various locations).  They can do this up to 8 times while I’m there.  What happens then is that the tumor forms an ice ball, killing the parts of the tumor it reached and the tumor crumbles.  So my question was, what happens to the dead tumor pieces?  Amazingly enough, they are absorbed into the body and disintegrated.  Where did they come up with this?  Thank God for research!

The doctor said that since the tumor is 9cm, he may not be able to get it all due to where it is located.  HOWEVER, I can do three different things…come back at another time and take care of the smaller one, do something called “microwaving” (no not like the one in your kitchen) or do small amounts of radiation.  Dr. Staddon said that since all of my other organs are functioning properly, this should be a walk in the park.  There are VERY few side effects other than soreness.  When I asked him when I could go back to work (we DO have Read Across America starting), he said Monday!  Yay for me!  He also said, there are always options that we can consider.  See?  As long as there is tomorrow, there is hope!

So, please say extra prayers that things go well on Thursday.  I don’t think I’ve ever been excited to undergo surgery 🙂 but I am.  God bless those doctors and nurses at Penn, they are truly the best.