So, Lets Chat
Been a long day for the Clark Clan.
Mom, Kitten and I have had our fair of Spanish coffees this evening. It's 11pm.
Bear with me.
Dad, Mom and Joan (long time family friend) checked in this morning for Dad's scheduled laparoscopic surgery at Kaiser. Dad's anesthesiology team happened to be some old familiar faces from OHSU's GI procedure unit where Mom worked years ago. Knowing we were in good hands, and after some debate over what "moderate exercise" really means - Dad went back with Dr. P under full anesthesia.
As Spencer broke down in his previous post, "Treatment Plan with Dr. P," we were inevitably headed down 1 of 3 different paths. Today the surgery unfortunately showed the latter of the 3.
We are now at stage 4 and the cancer has metastasized outside of Dad's stomach. Whether it came from inside the stomach and then out or outside the stomach and in, we do not know. However we do know that removing the stomach is no longer on the table at this point. Even though the mass majority of the cancer is attached to the outer walls of the stomach, it does not mean that removing it would solve all of our problems. Therefor not worth such an invasive, quality-of-life changing, procedure. (Imagine a giant spider web. You knock the spider web down - and all though it may seem to be taken care of at the moment. There is still strands hanging from all sides, that would be easily strung back together)
Dr. P is taking Dad's charts/biopsies/photos etc. to his colleagues this coming Tuesday to get second, third and fourth opinions. He is determined, sympathetic and a great fit for Dad thus far. Looking for the best answers and most importantly, the best quality of life.
Chemo is the next step and Dad will meet with the oncology team at some point next week. We are unsure at this point what chemo will look like. Once a week, more than that, for how many months, etc. But we will update you as we get a better grasps on things.
All our love,
Mad & Spen
Mom, Kitten and I have had our fair of Spanish coffees this evening. It's 11pm.
Bear with me.
Dad, Mom and Joan (long time family friend) checked in this morning for Dad's scheduled laparoscopic surgery at Kaiser. Dad's anesthesiology team happened to be some old familiar faces from OHSU's GI procedure unit where Mom worked years ago. Knowing we were in good hands, and after some debate over what "moderate exercise" really means - Dad went back with Dr. P under full anesthesia.
As Spencer broke down in his previous post, "Treatment Plan with Dr. P," we were inevitably headed down 1 of 3 different paths. Today the surgery unfortunately showed the latter of the 3.
We are now at stage 4 and the cancer has metastasized outside of Dad's stomach. Whether it came from inside the stomach and then out or outside the stomach and in, we do not know. However we do know that removing the stomach is no longer on the table at this point. Even though the mass majority of the cancer is attached to the outer walls of the stomach, it does not mean that removing it would solve all of our problems. Therefor not worth such an invasive, quality-of-life changing, procedure. (Imagine a giant spider web. You knock the spider web down - and all though it may seem to be taken care of at the moment. There is still strands hanging from all sides, that would be easily strung back together)
Dr. P is taking Dad's charts/biopsies/photos etc. to his colleagues this coming Tuesday to get second, third and fourth opinions. He is determined, sympathetic and a great fit for Dad thus far. Looking for the best answers and most importantly, the best quality of life.
Chemo is the next step and Dad will meet with the oncology team at some point next week. We are unsure at this point what chemo will look like. Once a week, more than that, for how many months, etc. But we will update you as we get a better grasps on things.
All our love,
Mad & Spen
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ReplyDeleteThanks for the update. With you all! ❤️
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