karenulijohn

Only three more days until we see the surgeon, Dr. Graves, who will decide the course of treatment that best suits Harvey’s cancer.  Dr. Suhag gave us a quick summary of the possible options.

The first option, and the one we think we want, is surgery.  This is only possible if there is no spread of the cancer, and Harvey falls into that category as shown in the PET scan.  It involves removing the affected portion of the esophagus, and then re-attaching the stomach.  Of course, any surgery has its risks and this is no exception.  However, with this option, once the surgery is completed, there is no further treatment required.  He just has to recover!

The second option would be to shrink the tumor with radiation and low dose chemotherapy.  He would have to endure six weeks of radiation treatments five days a week, and chemotherapy one day a week for 5-6 weeks.  Once the tumor is reduced in size, the surgeon will proceed as in option number one.  These treatments would seriously weaken him, and I worry that he would be less able to withstand a long and complicated surgery. The radiation will most certainly affect his ability to eat, and the chemo will probably make him nauseated.  Obviously, this is a major concern I plan to discuss with the surgeon on Wednesday.

We continue to live as normally as possible.  Eating has become more difficult but, we are scouring the grocery store for soft foods, eggs, soup, pudding, ice cream, and V8 for vegetables.  We had to cancel our plans to go to Hawaii in June with our daughter and her family.  It was to have been a celebration of our 50th wedding anniversary.  It was a difficult decision, but we knew that neither of us would be really comfortable postponing treatment for this cancer, and with his limited ability to eat normal food, it just seemed to be the wrong time.

Thank you to all who are following us with your thoughts and prayers, and if you are so inclined, please pray for Option #1.

On March 20th, 2016, we were visiting our daughter and her family in San Mateo.  We decided to go out for lunch and while eating, Harvey appeared to be choking.  In fact, he was having trouble swallowing, but when he finally regurgitated the offending morsel, he felt so much better, and we didn’t think much more about it.  Almost exactly one month later, he was officiating at the Lincoln Rotary Club meeting, and (I was playing the piano), I noticed that he left the room a couple of times.  He probably would not have told me had I not asked him, that he was having the same problem of not being able to swallow.  The moment I got home that day, I made an appointment in the afternoon with our primary doctor.  Dr. Schneidewind proposed that it might be an esophageal spasm, but to be certain, he ordered an Upper GI Series.

On May 2nd, Harvey had the Upper GI with contrast and the blockage was discovered.  He was immediately referred to Dr. Jan at Sutter in Sacramento and on May 10th underwent an Endoscopic procedure.  Dr. Jan was very gentle in telling us that cancer that forms in the glandular cells of the esophagus is known as adenocarcinoma. This is the most common type of esophageal cancer.  He suggested that we see our oncologist.  I told him that we have been seeing Dr. Suhag throughout the study for melanoma and Dr. Jan seemed to know of Dr. Suhag because he said he would contact him and discuss the diagnosis.  On May 16th we had ann appointment with Dr. Suhag who actually telephoned us himself and moved the appointment up several hours.  He told us that this cancer was in no way related to the melanoma or the treatment Harvey received.  In fact, he said this was just ‘bad luck.’

In order to determine if the cancer has spread, Dr. Suhag ordered a PET scan which was immediately scheduled for May 20th.  At our follow-up appointment on May 23rd, we were given the good news that there was no other sign of cancer: no lymph nodes were affected.  In order to be on top of the prescribed treatment, Dr. Suhag put in a referral to Radiation Oncologist, Dr. Jones.  This morning, Dr. Jones’ office telephoned to set up an appointment at 12:30PM.  We also have an upcoming appointment on June 1st with Dr. Graves, the surgeon who will be the final voice in how we proceed.