Dr. Robb Appointment

The appointment in Indy was at 1, we of course got in closer to 2 PM, but it was well worth the meeting with Dr. Robb, the colorectal surgeon. He was very nice, and very professional. Kathie and Bob both seemed pleased with him and the care it sounded like he and his staff could provide. Of course, while we were in the appointment with Dr. Robb – M.D. Anderson called. After leaving the meeting, things with M.D. Anderson were solidified and we are in on Sunday, surgery by Wednesday. Dr. Robb could do surgery tomorrow or after June 14th (though he also provided some of his partners’ names in case we hit an emergency point).

So now, instead of being in the pickle of having no where to go, we are now stuck with the tough (but blessed) position of having to decide between 4 good (if not GREAT) options. The issue we are focusing on now is who can deal the best with the cancer on the liver.

Some issues we resolved during the meeting with Dr. Robb:
- Surgery is the first priority to relieve the blockage
- It looks like it is fairly safe and non-destructive to wait 2-3 weeks for surgery, giving us time to consider the options thoroughly – a luxury we were worried just yesterday that we weren’t going to have
- The tumor position makes the colon surgery the least difficult and risky surgery of the ones necessary. The work with the liver and the follow-up for the rest of the cancer will be the longer term and larger speed-bump to get over.

The decision is coming down to being at a hospital that has possibly a greater edge with technical support (M.D. Anderson – being ranked #1 for this colon and liver combo… or basically all cancers) or being at a hospital that sounds like it has fairly good technical support (ranked 10ish for colon/rectal cancers – including liver involvement) and is closer to the general support system of being home, as well as being nearby for follow-up work. Both have a lot to offer.
We are expecting a call this evening from Dr. Robb’s in reference to whether his partner (who will be dealing with the liver portion of the surgery) feels that liver surgery should be done at the same time as the partial colon removal, or if an alternate approach should be taken. After receiving this phone call, we will be having a conference call as a family to discuss the pros and cons of both hospitals and go from there.

Posted by Lauren