A Day At Stanford

Last Thursday, Pat and I spent a very long day at Stanford preparing for my surgery next Wednesday.

I started off my day with a barium enema. Let’s just say that this is not a pleasant way to start your day. The purpose of this procedure is to check to make sure that the colon is ready to work again. Fortunately, my colon seems ready to go back into use.

Then it was off to get blood work done before meeting with Dr. Fisher. I think that I had the best phlebotomist on the planet that day (trust me – I have had more than I care to count). She was funny and sweet, but most importantly, she was fast and I barely felt anything. I think that my veins are recovering and are now much easier to access. (As you may recall, they were pretty bad after all of the chemo that I’ve pumped through them.)

We then met with Dr. Fisher and Margreet, who walked through the various scenarios for my path forward following Wednesday’s surgery. They range from finding lots of cancer (we would probably try a new chemo) to finding no cancer (we would probably reduce my chemo to just one drug). So – although the surgery is not a difficult surgery, I am still very nervous about what I’ll wake up to.

But – my blood work was GREAT! Everything was normal. My CEA count was 1 (this test is used as a cancer indicator). 5 and below is normal. Some folks’ CEA numbers are in the hundreds.

Then I went on to meet with Dr. Shelton, surgeon extraordinaire. He said that the surgery and laparoscopy will be only about 1 hour. Apparently, it’s a fairly simple procedure to put my body back together. You gotta love surgeons – the confidence just oozes from every pore.

We then met with the anesthesiologist which was really quite unremarkable.

To end our day of fun at Stanford, we attended a huge colon cancer event (in honor of colorectal cancer awareness month) that was headlined by my own Dr. George Fisher. The 400 people in attendance (many of them patients or former patients) were treated to a lovely reception and evening of learning from the various doctors/scientists at Stanford about the advances that are being made in colon cancer. It was so exciting to hear what is being done. They are using words like “cure” as they discuss their research. One item of particular excitement for me was that there will be a Stanford trial that will be underway at the end of the year which will focus on changing the immunological response to cancer. It was very complicated, but what kept blaring through my head as the doctor was talking were the following thoughts: “THERE IS A POSSIBLE CURE FOR COLON CANCER” and “HOW THE HECK DO I CONVINCE THIS DOCTOR TO INCLUDE ME IN HIS TRIAL IF IT INCLUDES PEOPLE IN REMISSION?”

So, directly after the presentations, I bee-lined toward the poor doctor (he had no idea what was going to be coming at him) and in my most charming voice asked him how I would go about being considered for the trial. He responded that George Fisher would be making those decisions. Hearing that – I went straight to Dr. Fisher to charm him. Unfortunately, he told me that the biggest challenge for them was finding a hospital that would be willing to underwrite the costs of the trial. They are looking to conduct the trial on 10 people at $500,000 per patient. Needless to say, it is not a small undertaking. So – if anyone reading this blog has an extra $5 million burning a hole your pocket – please let Stanford know….

What was also special that evening was that I met another colon cancer patient and her lovely family who apparently have been reading my blog. They were kind enough to tell me that my blog had actually helped them as she was starting her cancer journey. Wow. To hear that someone who doesn’t know me or my family has found this blog to be of value to them meant more to me than I can possibly express. She is young, otherwise healthy (she is a marathon runner), has a young child and just had a baby 5 months ago. I saw the fear in her eyes, but there was a strength there as well. As I was talking to her, I remembered what it felt like when I was first diagnosed. Primarily I remember the constant fear. I then realized that I no longer feel that constant fear. I am not saying that I don’t have my moments – but fear no longer dominates my thoughts. I welcome the day that it will no longer overshadow hers as well. She has now joined our club of cancer warriors - the club that no one wants to join.

So, as I head into next week, I am calling upon you, my teammates in this cancer fight, to join me once again to come together to get me through this surgery. Please put a tickler on your calendar on Wednesday morning to send a little prayer or positive thought my way. And hopefully I will wake up with a new body and the knowledge that there was no cancer within.