Treatment Plan with Dr. P

Met with Dr. Papavasiliou today to go over the prognosis and the treatment plan. I think we all agreed that Dr. P is a pretty good guy and seems to be a good fit for Dad. He did a full run down of Dad’s situation for us, twice actually.

Dad’s cancer is right where the esophagus and the stomach meet, so there will be some discussion between Dr. P (stomach guy) and the thoracic (chest guys) surgeons on exactly whose realm this will fall in. In the mean time there will be a PET scan tomorrow afternoon to double check that the cancer has not moved into other parts of the body. The PET scan is about 85% accurate and will be confirmed by laparoscopic surgery on Thursday.  Laparoscopic surgery is a tiny incision that they will shove a camera into and check out the exterior of the stomach and surrounding areas. Then if they see anything they will do a biopsy at the time, etc etc.

So right now we are Stage 3 and working with the stomach guys, the plan would be chemo or radiation for 3ish months and followed by a little recovery period then surgery to remove the stomach, and even take care of that hernia. Draw back is no stomach means chewing food thoroughly, and small meals but more of them.

The chest guys may deem it necessary that they do the work, which is radiation roughly a month and half, then surgery.

If the PET scan and laparoscopic surgery shows cancer in other places then it means Stage 4 and chemo but no surgery.

Now everything is a moving target and Dad could react differently for better or worse and the plans and time lines could change but we are still staying positive and taking it one step at a time.

Love you guys and thanks for all the support.

Spence and Mad