Last night was exciting, but not quite the way we wanted. Kathie went in for her CT, but wasn’t feeling great going in – there were a lot of gas bubbles, possibly due to the large quantity of barium and Sprite consumed prior to the scan. Right after her scan she got sick and we took her out of the hospital via wheelchair because she was still nauseous and dizzy. We made it back to the hotel and Kathie made it a few minutes and managed to change before getting sick again. She felt better after that and made it the rest of the night just fine. It was just a reminder not to mix drinks (cranberry and then Sprite)… Lauren euphemized it as Cosmos and Piña Coladas: )

Bob and Lauren shared some banana bread at 10 PM for dinner – fearing that heating up leftovers might set Kathie off again and all three of us watched the end of the Producers for a distraction.

We did not quite achieve a miracle last night – but Lauren told Kathie that this way Mother Teresa has something really big to do - much more impressive:) Although, Kathie is wondering if the miracle was making it out of the hospital last night without having emergency surgery or having a stroke from having her blood pressure spike to 137/100. Kathie also wondered if the time difference threw Mother Teresa off, not to mention the short notice;)

Of course, there were yet again discrepancies in suggestions for how to deal with the issue. This morning we met with Dr. Rodriguez-Bigas, the surgical oncologist that focuses on colon surgery. He suggested surgery first to get rid of the chance of blockage, but repeated the previous chemo suggestions we got back home. After a meeting with Dr. Rodriquez, we had a meeting with Dr. Abdalla, the surgical oncologist that focuses on liver surgery, and things looked a little less positive than we had hoped. First, he counted and pointed out the spots that showed up on the new CT scan – over 20 lesions geographically scattered on the liver– meaning absolutely no possible surgery or cure in the liver, ever (depending on what science comes up with in the upcoming years), but that still did not mean the worst. The spleen still looks okay, but there are a couple questionable spots on the lung. On a lighter note, he sounded positive if Kathie is aggressive about treatment. He advised chemo before surgery… hmm, now we’re back to square one deciding which route to go, though he did say Dr. Rodriquez may make the decision for us.

The next step is getting an appointment with an oncologist – strings are being pulled as I type. Kathie and Bob are discussing surgery options, deciding if it’s best to stick with M.D. Anderson for it, or if it’s best to be closer to the support system… regardless of that though, the first decision will be which treatment to go with first.

Later today there is a new patient/family orientation to M.D. Anderson that Bob, Kathie, and Lauren plan on attending.

Side note, that Kathie insists on being typed in – we got a “free lunch” yesterday with our attendance at the seminar and have realized you could probably manage a “free lunch” everyday if you attended the different seminars. (Forget how many thousands of dollars are going to them for treatment;) )

Thanks for the prayers to Mother Teresa... a new process will be directed soon. Keep general prayers coming our way!!!

Posted by Lauren