Journal entry by Debbie Heiman — 11 hours ago
Our appointment with the surgeon, Dr. Mogal went pretty well today. He discussed surgery with us and said that he thinks it is a good idea to move ahead with it. Scott has had 5 rounds of the chemo he is currently on, and Dr. Mogal would like him to do one more round before surgery. He starts on Monday and has chemo June 4th - June 8th (Tyler’s 12th Birthday!)
They want him to have 3-4 weeks off of chemo before surgery. We are looking at sometime in early July. We don’t have a date set yet, but we’re truly thankful to be staying in Milwaukee this time. We feel confident in Dr. Mogal’s expertise.
The news we didn’t expect to hear is that he will be performing Hipec at the end of the surgery. He isn’t going to try resecting or removing any of Scott’s liver tumors, except for the ones on the external part of the liver that he can “shave” off, in a sense. He feels that since Scott’s liver tumors have remained stable for so long, even during his 9 months off of chemo, that we shouldn’t mess with what is working. We agree! Here is a description of Hipec.
Heated or hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) is the process of heating chemotherapy drugs and delivering them into the abdominal cavity. This treatment is often combined with cytoreductive surgery and is an effective approach for peritoneal disease.
Dr. Mogal will be trying his best to remove the tumor that lies between Scott’s colon and bladder. He’s hoping that he doesn’t have to remove much of Scott’s colon. This is a very complicated surgery, just like it was when we were in NY. They estimate an 8-12 day hospital stay with no complications. That is our hope and prayer. Scott’s hospital stay after surgery in NY was almost a month due to many unfortunate circumstances.
Dr. Mogal said that he will remove as much cancer as he can find. Opening up a patient shows much more than a scan does. After the surgery is complete, the heated chemo solution (Hipec) will be poured into Scott’s abdominal cavity before closing him up. The recovery from this major surgery can take quite a bit of time, so we won’t be planning much during the months of July and August, except for giving Scott time to rest and recover.
I feel very strongly about the importance of spending time together as a family right now before surgery. I pray that we are able to do that. Summer will be over before we know it.
We were originally scheduled to meet with Dr. Charlson tomorrow morning to discuss our appointment with the surgeon. They called me on Friday and asked if we wanted to see him right after we saw Dr. Mogal. Dr. Charlson made it even easier by coming into our appointment with Dr. Mogal right at the end. We all got to discuss our plans together, and we are ALL on the same page.
I’m relieved to have a plan, but we definitely have some anxiety about the future.
God will be with us and bless us, and we trust in his plans.
Joshua 1:9 “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.”
They want him to have 3-4 weeks off of chemo before surgery. We are looking at sometime in early July. We don’t have a date set yet, but we’re truly thankful to be staying in Milwaukee this time. We feel confident in Dr. Mogal’s expertise.
The news we didn’t expect to hear is that he will be performing Hipec at the end of the surgery. He isn’t going to try resecting or removing any of Scott’s liver tumors, except for the ones on the external part of the liver that he can “shave” off, in a sense. He feels that since Scott’s liver tumors have remained stable for so long, even during his 9 months off of chemo, that we shouldn’t mess with what is working. We agree! Here is a description of Hipec.
Heated or hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) is the process of heating chemotherapy drugs and delivering them into the abdominal cavity. This treatment is often combined with cytoreductive surgery and is an effective approach for peritoneal disease.
Dr. Mogal will be trying his best to remove the tumor that lies between Scott’s colon and bladder. He’s hoping that he doesn’t have to remove much of Scott’s colon. This is a very complicated surgery, just like it was when we were in NY. They estimate an 8-12 day hospital stay with no complications. That is our hope and prayer. Scott’s hospital stay after surgery in NY was almost a month due to many unfortunate circumstances.
Dr. Mogal said that he will remove as much cancer as he can find. Opening up a patient shows much more than a scan does. After the surgery is complete, the heated chemo solution (Hipec) will be poured into Scott’s abdominal cavity before closing him up. The recovery from this major surgery can take quite a bit of time, so we won’t be planning much during the months of July and August, except for giving Scott time to rest and recover.
I feel very strongly about the importance of spending time together as a family right now before surgery. I pray that we are able to do that. Summer will be over before we know it.
We were originally scheduled to meet with Dr. Charlson tomorrow morning to discuss our appointment with the surgeon. They called me on Friday and asked if we wanted to see him right after we saw Dr. Mogal. Dr. Charlson made it even easier by coming into our appointment with Dr. Mogal right at the end. We all got to discuss our plans together, and we are ALL on the same page.
I’m relieved to have a plan, but we definitely have some anxiety about the future.
God will be with us and bless us, and we trust in his plans.
Joshua 1:9 “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.”
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