In August Luanne had decided that her lack of energy and breath should be medically analyzed. Her doctor ordered blood tests and they came back extremely low in iron and B12. Easy fix—take more of both. She did and her energy, etc. rebounded to her previous normal. As a safety measure her doctor also ordered an endoscopy (down the throat) and a colonoscopy (up the butt) to make sure there was no internal bleeding. These took place in August. However, Luanne reacted to the anesthetic and was too squirmy for the colonoscopy to complete. Consequently another one was ordered under a more general anesthesia, and this took place on November 20. While walking through the parking lot at Kaiser Hospital, Ira and Luanne saw this license plate on a patient’s car:
Wonder how that got by the DMV?
Anyhow, the second colonoscopy was successfully completed. The gastro-enterologist who did both procedures came in to tell us his findings (or lack thereof). When he entered the recovery room he brought a chair with him and sat down. Now you don’t need to have had a lot of medical procedures to know that when the doctor sits down (or tells you to sit down) it’s not good. "I found a mass and it is cancer”, he said. Not even “found a mass and let's wait for the biopsy results. BAM! CANCER!. He did say it was not blocking the colon, it was high up (along the level of the appendix) and a CT scan would be needed to determine more.
Well, the prep for a colonoscopy covers the prep for a CT scan, so we trudge down to radiology (Luanne is actually feeling pretty good) and a scan is done that afternoon. Off we go the next day to Santa Cruz for Thanksgiving with Jeremy, Jessica and Kaia. On the way there the gastro-doc called to tell us that the results of the CT scan show no indications of cancer outside of the location in the colon. YES! Not stage 4 cancer; only possibly stages 1, 2 or 3.
So what does that mean? In these three stages surgery is performed laparoscopically (through small incisions in the abdomen), the mass and any surrounding areas removed and cleaned up, along with lymph nodes if required. At this time the surgeon determines the stage of cancer. If it is stage 1, Luanne recovers, doesn’t lift anything heavier than 10 pounds. for 3-6 weeks (that rules out her purse) and lives happily ever after. If it is stage 2 or 3, Luanne recovers and goes through 3-4 months of chemo and lives happily ever after. Other than having had cancer, neither sounds like too bad a deal.
As you all know Luanne works a strong program of recovery, has an amazing support system and years of practicing one day at a time make living one day at a time so much easier. Both Luanne and Ira are really OK. People in crisis/trauma often say that, but it is true in our case (people in crisis/trauma say that too!). Fortunately an option here does NOT seem to be death, and that really makes things a lot easier. We know if we need anything we can call on all of you, but for now we are good.
A surgical consult is scheduled for November 27. Come back for more info afterwards.