Penny & Irv - May 2010

Dear All;

Irv and I got up this morning at 4:30 am and quickly got ready to drive to Portland for his 10:30 appt. We got to the OHSU hospital at 9:30! The ultrasound went very well and he feels quite good afterward. We were able to drive right home - Irv even walked out of the hospital to the parking garage where the car was.

The doctor found NO abnormalities in the pancreas. Yahoo!! Once and for all we know that organ is fine. Whew! Pancreatic cancer is so horrible - what a relief.

He did find an abnormality in the "major papilla" area of the duodenum. From what I read on the internet this is an area about 7-10 cm from the pyloric opening from the stomach to the intestine. Both a bile duct from the liver and another duct from the pancreas empty into the duodenum in this major papilla. Biopsies were taken of this abnormality. We will hopefully know the results by the end of the week.

This doctor wouldn't commit to ANYTHING as to what this abnormality might mean. Surgery, benign, cancer, what? Nothing! He said he would be in contact with Irv's original surgeon Dr. Mastrangelo and they will discuss the outcomes and then tell us. So, we wait once again.

At least the dire threat of pancreatic cancer is gone.

I will know tomorrow afternoon what time my mastectomy will be done on Thursday. Kerrin, my sister, will be here tomorrow to care for me. I can hardly wait for her to get here.

So, again we wait for news and some final answers. Irv on the biopsies, and me on whether I'll need chemotherapy or not. I don't know how long that Oncotype DX test takes to complete, but I wouldn't start chemo until I was mostly healed from the surgery anyway.

At least progress is being made, even though at a glacial pace. To us, "modern medicine" is a misnomer!

Love to you all;

Penny