Goodbye Spleen!

Last weekend I received a call from a dear friend’s mother (the mother is also a dear friend) who was very concerned about me because I haven’t written on the blog for a while.  After hearing the worry in her voice, I realized that it was about time that I actually posted something.  I started writing several times, but was so busy that I never finished one enough to post it.  Of course, I even started writing this post a week ago, but STILL didn’t post.

So now it has been one month since my surgery.   Over the past month, I’ve been running so fast that I haven’t had a chance to give you the details on the surgery and everything that has arisen since.

As you know, on Friday, March 30, I checked into Stanford Hospital for the splenectomy.  We didn’t know what was going to happen once they got in there and looked around.  I did know that I was going to do everything I could to get out of the hospital as quickly as possible. I told the doctors that I would be leaving the next day.  They scoffed but decided to humor me by telling me that it was a laudable goal.  I was absolutely confident that unless they had to open me up, that I would be outta there on Saturday.

Well – thanks to my friend Stacia who posted right after my surgery, you know that the surgery went very well and that they were able to take out my spleen laparoscopically.  Furthermore, when they looked around, they didn’t see any other signs of cancer.  If anyone wants to know exactly how you retract a spleen through a very small incision, I’d be happy to give you the details – but will spare those of you with weak stomachs.  A big hats off to Dr. George Poultsides and his team of geniuses for their tremendous work.

That night I got up to walk 3 times.  At 6 am on Saturday, I was up and walking around, when Dr. Poultsides’ right hand surgeon came to work.  She looked at me and said, “when a patient is up and walking around at 6 am on a Saturday morning, you know it’s time to let them go home.”

At 10:15, I was released from Stanford Hospital. As I was leaving she said “you know, during the surgery they told me you were crazy, but now I know what they were talking about!”   We gave each other a huge grin and I took off.  After 10 surgeries in 4 years – I’ve learned that my body has an amazing capacity to bounce back.  I am continuously in awe of my ability to heal quickly.

Many of you thought that at that point I should have been completely relieved.  But I wasn’t.  I was told by my oncologists that if my blood numbers continued to be high then it was probable that there was additional cancer lurking in a place that the surgeons couldn’t see – such as my colon.

I went home and started preparing for the commercial shoot for the California Cancer Research Act.   On Monday, after I had put in a fairly full day of work, Ellie, Ariel and I headed to downtown Sacramento for the filming.  I wasn’t my most stunning – but I did shoot the commercial.  Now – they just have to get the money to actually put the commercial on air.  As a side note, for those of you in California, you may have heard the despicable commercials that have been put on air by the tobacco companies making all kinds of false claims like that Prop 29 will mean a big tax hike for all Californians.  I’m not going to go into how incredibly misleading these commercials are or my complete and utter disgust for the tobacco industry – I’m going to reserve those thoughts for another post on another day….for now – I’ll return to me.  

The week following my surgery, I worked a full week, albeit from home and then hopped on a plane to Pennsylvania to celebrate my father-in-law’s 75^th birthday.  My surgeon thought I was crazy to go across the country a week after major surgery, but if I’ve learned nothing else from this diagnosis, it’s that birthdays must be celebrated and that if at all possible, try to show up for the milestones in people’s lives.

Since Pennsylvania, I’ve been back at work and my body now seems to be close to 100%.  In fact, I’m better than I was going into the surgery on several levels.  Interestingly enough, the continuous throbbing pain that I had in my rectum since last year’s ileostomy reversal seems to be gone.  Surprisingly, I think that going under for this surgery may have done something to my sphincter muscle to return it to normal.  It is so incredible not to have continuous pain.  In addition, because I’ve been off of chemo for the last 6 weeks, my hands and feet have almost returned to normal.

So – you’re probably wondering what happened to my CEA (cancer indicator determined through a blood test).  Well, it dropped.  Dramatically.  It went from 8 to 3.5 in 5 days.  That was huge.  With that kind of a drop – we believe that they got the cancer.

What’s next?  I met with both oncologists this last week to talk about next steps.    The plan is to take another CT scan at the end of May to see if they see any additional signs of cancer.  In the meantime, we’re going to start up Avastin again at the end of next week (that’s my easy peasy chemo).   That will require me to get a drip every 3 weeks for the foreseeable future.

Next, when I go to get the Avastin on May 11, we will take my CEA again.  If it goes up, then we’ll start back on Xeloda.   Ideally, they would like to give my body a break for awhile.  As George Fisher said last Monday, “Eve, I’ve told you this before.  We believe that there still is cancer floating around in your body.  Therefore, we will be doing this for a long time to come.” 

I will then go and get my CT on May 29.  If it doesn’t show anything and my CEA remains steady, then we’ll just stick with Avastin and keep monitoring my progress.  The goal is to keep the more aggressive chemos available if the cancer comes back and we need them in the future.  If the CT shows something – then we’ll probably step it up again and I may be returning to those lovely Penguin Cold Caps.

But – for now – I’m doing well….heck, I’m doing great!  I feel better than I have for over a year.   Being without a spleen is no big deal – I just have to be a little more vigilant about taking care of myself if I get a fever or feel ill. 

The folks at Stanford are calling me a miracle.    I really believe that my body is doing so well not just because it’s strong, but because of the absolutely phenomenal support network that I have and because of the love and prayers that I have received from all of you. 

Thank you for being a part of my miraculous recovery.   I couldn’t have done it without you. 

Spleen is out & surgeon finds no further cancer!

Eve's surgery went well! They were able to remove her spleen through laparoscopy, as planned. No further cancer was found! She is resting now at Stanford hospital and plans to go home tomorrow. She's still convinced she's taping this Prop. 29 commercial on Monday!

Celebrating the End of Colon Cancer Awareness Month

I hope that everyone has had a wonderful Colon Cancer Awareness Month. It’s almost time to take down the blue streamers and put away the party horns and hats until next year. I don’t know how you’ve celebrated, but I’ve decided to end Colon Cancer Awareness Month by getting rid of my colon cancer (although I will ask Stanford if they have some blue scrubs for me to help celebrate this special month).

As you are all aware, Friday is the big day. This week I’ve been preparing myself to lose one of the last expendable organs in my body and to steel myself for whatever news is presented to me following the surgery. My goal is to hear that they didn’t see any additional cancer, it was all in my spleen and my spleen was removed laparoscopically. I am asking that all of you send me similar intentions and prayers on Friday morning at 7:15 am when my surgery commences. The surgery should take approximately 3 hours and provided all goes as planned, I should be out of the hospital on Saturday or Sunday.

It is important that things go smoothly, since I am scheduled to shoot a commercial for the California Cancer Research Act (CCRA/Prop 29) on Monday! I am so honored to be a part of the effort. Provided that I’m out of the hospital and that I am not completely drugged up, the girls and I will be filming a spot to promote this important proposition. You may have seen that the tobacco companies are stepping up their game in opposition to Prop 29. Although we are on the side of the angels, we’ll be up against $50-$100 million in tobacco money that will be funding the opposition. If you’ve been putting off contributing to my online fundraiser for the CCRA, I can think of no better way to end Colon Cancer Awareness Month (except, of course, eradicating colon cancer from your body)!

I am so grateful to all of you for being by my side on this very long and arduous journey. You have inspired me, made me laugh and given me strength. This surgery will be my tenth (my sixth stomach surgery) in just over 4 years. I just pray that it will be my last. But, regardless of what is ahead, just knowing that you all are out there cheering me on, means more to me than I can ever express.

A Mixed Bag

Last Monday, Pat and I traveled down to Stanford to get the results from Dr. Fisher. In a nutshell, the cancer is growing as we suspected. The good news is that the only place that they could see cancer growth was in my spleen. That doesn’t mean that there isn’t any other cancer growth, since the CT scan only picks up spots that are greater than 6 mm in size.

When Dr. Fisher told us this news, I was jumping with joy. In fact, I ran over and hugged him. He was very perplexed with my reaction. I guess most people aren’t thrilled when they hear that cancer is growing in their body. When he asked me why I was so happy, I told him that I had prepared my self for a much worse discussion. Heck – a spleen can be taken out and I already knew I had cancer in my spleen!

George then brought in the surgeon to walk through their joint recommendation. They want to take it out. They were ok with leaving my spleen in when the cancer wasn’t growing but now that it is growing, they want it out. George said that he wasn’t surprised that my numbers went up and that the cancer was growing, he was just hoping that it wouldn’t have happened so soon.

I am scheduled to have a splenectomy on March 30 at Stanford. There are 3 possible outcomes on that day (there are probably a lot more, but these are the ones that I’m aware of):

1. The Preferred Result – the surgeon takes a laparoscopic look around, doesn’t see any more cancer, doesn’t see a lot of scar tissue and removes the spleen laparoscopically. I leave the hospital in 1 day and after healing, return to my current chemo regimen of Avastin and Xeloda.

2. Next Best Result – the surgeon takes a laparoscopic look around, doesn’t see any more cancer but sees too much scar tissue to remove the spleen laparoscopically so he is forced to open me up and take out the spleen. I will then have a 3 – 4 day hospital stay. After healing, I’d return to my current chemo regimen of Avastin and Xeloda.

3. Least Preferred Result – the surgeon takes a laparoscopic look around and sees a significant amount of cancer that he can’t remove. He would then leave my spleen in my body and sew me back up. After healing, I would then go on a very aggressive chemo regimen to try to shrink the tumors.

So – it looks like I’ll be losing yet another expendable organ. I will have to get immunizations for meningitis, pneumonia and the flu, since apparently, the spleen is important to protect the body against these ailments. But, otherwise, I’ve been told that I should see very little impact on my life. Many, many people live without a spleen.

Over the next 3 weeks, I will be focusing on prepping myself for surgery. Although I am not thrilled that I’ll be heading into my 6^th stomach surgery in just over 4 years, I am relieved that we have a plan of action to get rid of my cancer.

But now it’s time to take my chemo and get to bed….

Awareness

Over the past several years, many people have asked me how aware the girls are of what’s going on. Have we told them I have cancer? Have we told them how serious this disease is?

Since the very beginning we have been very open with the girls about the fact that I have cancer. Anyone who knows me knows that I don’t have a very good poker face. And – it’s pretty difficult to hide things when you’re having constant surgeries, rounds of chemo and people are coming over to visit regularly.

But, we have never talked about the possibility that I won’t be around for the long haul. Of course, I can’t control what the girls hear outside of the home, so I have often wondered what they have heard and what they think.

Which brings me to last week. When I was told by my San Francisco oncologist about the jump in my numbers, I was distraught. The girls witnessed my pain and sorrow about hearing the news. I knew that I should probably have hidden my distress, but I was just too caught up in my sadness to be thinking clearly.

Later that night, when I was snuggled up close to Ariel putting her to bed, she looked at me and simply said, “Mom, if you are in spirit when I have kids, will you come back through my child? I want to be with you always.”

This took the wind out of me. What a profound concept for an 8-year old little girl. I promised her that I would, but that I was planning to be with her in person when she had her children.

I guess that they do know what it is I’m up against.

Tomorrow morning, Pat and I will be meeting with Dr. Fisher to talk about the results from my scan and to determine next steps. All I know, is that I’ll keep fighting to meet my grandchildren.

Scan on Monday

I wanted to give you all a quick update. After I wrote a rather distraught e-mail to George about my concerns, he called me back and said the following:

1. No need to jump off a bridge. He told me to stop panicking until we know what we're dealing with. He said that the CEA is just a number and is used to determine when to do a CT scan. He does believe that the heightened CEA means that the cancer is active, but we still don't know what it's doing.

2. Get a CT scan. Before determining treatment, he said that we need to get a CT scan to see what's going on inside of me. He said that we're not going to start shooting until we see "the whites of their eyes..." He doesn't want to unnecessarily use up weapons in our arsenal if we can save them until later.

3. We always expected the number to go up, we just were hoping that it I would have more time before it went up. But, it is what it is and soon we'll know what it means.

So - on Monday, I head to Stanford to get the scan. I will be meeting with George on March 5 to discuss treatment options. I am also in the process of determining if I should get second opinions from other major cancer centers (Block Center, MD Anderson, Dana Farber or Sloan Kettering). Unfortunately, none of my chemo options are very appealing.

Last Tuesday, when I got the call from Garrett, I was devastated. Pat told me that while I could be sad on Tuesday, on Wednesday, I had to get my game face on and get back up ready to fight. While it took me a couple more days than he had hoped, I'm feeling centered once again and ready to jump back into cancer destroying mode.

My CEA Has Jumped

I have just received the call that I have been dreading. My oncologist, Dr. Garrett Smith has informed me that my CEA (cancer indicator) number has jumped from 5.0-5.6. This is a fairly significant increase. Most likely it means that my cancer is active and is growing.

I have an e-mail into George to determine what he thinks we should do. Most likely, I'll begin a more aggressive chemotherapy treatment.

Please keep me in your prayers. I really need them right now.