Things were starting to get planned and then all of a sudden everything changes. As they were scheduling more and more appointments for me I contacted the research coordinator and asked if I should book the hotel for next week. He told me not to book anything until one of the doctors called me. A couple of hours later, after I made my post I received a call from one of the doctors. He called to tell me that within my abdomen there was no nodules that were large enough for me to qualify for the trials. They contacted the sponsor of the studies and they ruled that the spread of my cancer was not advanced enough for them to include me in the studies. This is not necessarily a bad thing as the size of the spread is diffuse but is not large as of yet. Luckily we have plans B, C, and D left. We have already started the process into putting all of those in motion and we will see how they pan out. The one good thing at least is the other treatment that I want to do is done in conjunction with what I will be starting so it will not impact things at all.
My local oncologist called me today to ask me about Mt. Sinai and whether I had someone to refer to there. He was familiar with the more invasive methodology which involved surgery to remove all visible signs of cancer in the abdomen followed by heated chemotherapy. I am not eligible for that technique but I am for the less invasive PIPAC technique. He does not believe that it is the standard of care though and seems to think it is more experimental and clinical trial. The Mayo clinic in the US does this technique as does Spain. I sent over my files to Spain for them to review and they will tell me if I am eligible for consideration or not. If I am then I need to sell my kidneys and liver to pay for a consultation and then travel there for treatment. Mel has always wanted to go to Spain so she has been playing the long 20 year con. Get me to fall in love, half kids, get me to have a disease that they specialize in treating and boom super expensive trip to the country she wants to go to. She could have just asked, but this seems like a more interesting chapter for the story of my life. When I was talking to the oncologist I told him that this was exciting as I could be a case study of the boy who survived, just like Harry Potter. I would like to point out that prior to Potter that curse had a 100% success rate. I have the protection of tons of people that love me. It is easy to see the parallels and see that it is clear that I am going to survive.
My oncologist also told me that my port surgery is scheduled. Maybe I will get lucky and someone will call me the morning of my appointment. Generally there is a patient intake process so I am assuming that I will get a phone call at some point. The procedure is 30 to 60 minutes and I am under light sedation. I am not a fan of sedation as it makes me groggy and unable to work that day. I have tried it in the past and the end result is a debacle. Since the incident of 2021, I try not to work when I wake from surgery. I guess that is what people feel when they are drunk. My chemo is going to start on March 3rd or so. It should be a lot of fun. Unfortunately the Olympics will be done, but I can post what it is like during the session.
I have been a bit preoccupied with all of this today so no other side stories about my kids XO. See the benefit of giving your kids those initials. Hugs and kisses to everyone.
Q