This morning we went to the ICU waiting room and met one of Pete's long-time buddies sitting there. He had just been visiting with Pete a few minutes when he was asked to wait in there because they were taking Pete for his post-op MRI. I know MRIs take some time, so we sat and chatted for a while and then I got up and took the gift
tray of cookies (Bruce had picked up a couple of them for me to give to the nurses) and went in to check whether Pete had returned.
As luck would have it, he had just been in the room a few minutes when one Dr. LaN came in to talk with him. She was the one we had seen on Friday and had ordered the immediate MRI. She was a bit perturbed because, just as a "wet" sonogram had been ordered, she had ordered a "wet" MRI (see 12/19/2009), but the doctor who did the MRI did not report the findings immediately. They were not called in to the oncologists until Saturday morning, which precipitated their immediate call to Pete alerting him to irregularities in his brain.
She talked to us at length, answering our questions with clear and detailed explanations. She exhibited so much knowledge, caring and concern that, as she spoke, I felt my whole being start to relax. Don't get me wrong, she did not offer us a rosy picture, but the way she presented the information certainly helped to allay much of the fear of the unknown that I had been feeling.
Though the pathologist most likely will not conclude the biopsy testing until Monday, the doctor gave us 3 scenarios. The first and optimal one is that it is a benign tumor. Not very likely, but still a possibility. The second and most likely scenario is that it is sarcoma and had its origins in the primary tumor removed last January. This scenario, though not optimal, will necessitate several weeks of radiation therapy and then most likely places treatment right on track with the chemotherapy that was already planned to counteract the lesions in his lungs. The third, another highly unlikely scenario, is that it is a different malignancy, but even in that case there would be radiation and chemo treatments.
She did not promise anything more than what she and the other doctors could deliver. They will be providing us with the tools and ammunition to fight the cancer: radiation, chemo, support and hope.
Gina and I visited with him again very briefly this afternoon. His father and half-brother were there when we arrived, so I just said a quick "hello", gave him his cell phone charger, and stayed about 5 minutes and left. It's almost 8 PM now and Bruce and I will be going back up to say good night in a few minutes.
The doctors are still working on alleviating his headaches. You can see the pain in his face but the good news is that he's reporting the headache pain has gone down from "9" to "6 or 7" on a scale of 1 to 10.
Having him home in the next day or two would certainly be one of the best Christmas presents I could get this year and it's looking very promising right now.
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