Scanning

On September 4th I had a sort-of-quarterly CT Scan and Chemo Kaufman told me there was something wrong with it. I had something called an intussusception and that had to be taken care of as soon as possible. So he spoke with my most excellent hero Dr. CK Chang, the author of my whipple. Chang wanted a PET scan so I went to get one. This is where things get confusing - a PET scan automatically comes with a CT scan so people can see where any PET scan "bright" spots (generally not good) are really located. Well, I have a bright spot. To some, this indicates a recurrence of cancer. To others, like the good Dr. Kaufman, it could be caused by something happening near the scar tissue and re-plumbing liberties that came with my whipple. But there is no longer any indication of an intussusception.

Now Kaufman says I don't need to worry so much - when someone has a recurrence of pancreatic cancer it shows up as bright spots everywhere, you feel really bad, and as Kaufman says, "the end is nigh", and that's not the way this looks. But then I go see Chang and he's very sorry, he 'doesn't like to operate' in these cases, and he recommends some radiation and some chemo. Right now.

That was about 10 days ago. I started requesting copies of my records so that I could go get another opinion. I cracked down on my diet so that I could eliminate the confusion that pancreatitus wreaks on blood tests. I stopped sleeping and buying green bananas.

I took an enzyme test yesterday, the proof against pancreatitus interference - the results came back all good this morning so I went and gave more blood for the tumor marker tests this morning. Those results should be back sometime Thursday, probably when my brother Steve and I and my friend Jim are making the turn at Wente Vineyards golf course.

I wish it was just an intussusception. I've never been real keen on making detailed plans that MUST be adhered to, but I'd give my left arm for a plan right now - good, bad, or whatever. I have things to see, people to meet, and children to help move out. I feel great physically. Most of the time I feel good emotionally, too. But let's have a plan.

Thanks for checking -

John