Hello March

Well  March is here, the Olympics are over, and the good guys won the gold medal game yesterday!
And Dave is now resigned to watching Oprah, Ellen, and Dr Oz! Just kidding. He insists that he watches nothing but sports highlights and olympic replays.

This morning we went to the LRCP for a consult with the Radiation Oncologist. Man that was frustrating. He said the only option (as a next step) is radiation, which would happen 5 days a week for 6 to 7 weeks and has a slew of it’s own side effects and risks with no guarantee that it will improve anything either. And the side effects would last another 4-6 weeks. (So 3 months of misery.) The side effects range from added pain and discomfort of the esophagus for sure, to potential for low blood counts and infections, absesses which he mentioned might feel like you're having a heart attack and should go to emerg. After chemo failed, we're obviously a little shy of radiation and I gotta say that he had no strong selling points. Also, he made it very clear that Dave can't have any anti-oxidants while doing radiation for 7 weeks as it negates the effects of radiation. It bothers us that in addition to damaging the immune system during treatment, you can't work on boosting it during this time.

I tried to discuss 2 other options (laser therapy & photodynamic therapy) to temporarily relieve the blockage and make Dave more comfortable, but he said they weren’t options because of the size of the tumor. We asked for a referral back to the thoracic surgeon Dave saw originally as I would prefer to get his opinion directly, and he said he would call them, but gave us the impression that they might not even be willing to spend the time to consult because basically radiation is just the next step and that’s the way it is. Take it or leave it.
I feel like kicking him in the shins...

He said he would go ahead and make plans for radiation while we think it over because it takes weeks to get things started anyway. (We obviously have the option to not go through with it.) The other thing that is frustrating is that he mentioned that they would prefer to have a PET scan done before radiation as it shows the cancer cells (including dormant cells) more clearly, but often OHIP won’t pay to have this done for poor prognosis cases. All he can do is put in a request and see what happens. Which, if I understand correctly, means that their radiation treatment won't be as good as it could/should be. It certainly wasn't a very good sell job.

So now we wait for phone calls. I actually called the surgeons office last Monday to try to get an appointment happening on my own, but to no avail. I will start pestering again tomorrow. Squeaky wheel...

We were discouraged earlier in the day but realized that we shouldn't be. The more frustrated we become with traditional treatment, the more alternative treatment makes sense here. Don't get me wrong, there's certainly a place for traditional medicine and after 2 recent sports injuries requiring surgeries in the last two years, I would actually be crippled right now without traditional medicine. There are areas where it excels and there are other areas (like oncology) where it feels like they're stabbing in the dark and hoping for the best. Fortunately we can rest our faith in Jesus Christ and know that he has a perfect plan. 

Yesterday Dave & I went to church, a friend from Toronto came by to visit afterwards, and then Dave went out to watch the Olympic Gold medal hockey game at a friends with a few guys from his baseball team . It was a great game, but Dave says that he still doesn't like Sydney Crosby! Hahaha! Dave also wants to thank Taylor for coming by to shovel our driveway on Saturday after all that snow we had. (Cale shovelled as well, but his leg is still sore from the car accident last Monday evening, and actually looks horrible now that gravity has hit the bruise.)

Thank you everyone for your emails, phone calls, prayer and support.

Have a great weekend!

Val