Just got off the phone with the surgical oncologist. He called because they had their conference today about my case. They had additional information from their own pathologist, who got my slides from Chris Fletcher, the Harvard pathologist who provided CU Denver with a read of the tumor extracted August 1st.
The MD Anderson pathologists have refined Dr. Fletcher's conclusion (that it was a "hybrid" of a couple different unusual tumor types) and decided that it's still a weirdo sarcoma, but one they would call "unclassified pleomorphic." These cancers tend to spread locally. And they tend to spread with tiny tentacles in a diffuse pattern (Fletcher used the word "spindly.") Because the initial surgery didn't get it all, and finding it all is a challenge given the way it grows, MD Anderson's team is recommending that I have a month of radiation therapy before the 2nd surgery.
What that means is that the 9/25 surgery date is OBE, as we used to say on the Hill (overtaken by events). Instead, I will go to Houston sometime in the next week to meet with the radiation specialist who will give me a protocol that I can have executed here in Colorado (and, I hope, Boulder). It does mean I will be pinned (no travel) for those 30 days, because you have to have the treatment at the same time every day. This is the treatment where they give you a tattoo so they can zap the same location every time, for maybe 15-20 minutes a day. I have yet to triangulate with my friends and family who know more about it, but it's not supposed to be bad like chemo in terms of awful adverse side effects. Still, ironic given the 12 years I spent trying to make sure that people who lived near nuclear weapons sites and power plants were not exposed!
The bottom line is that I thought this blog would be quiet for three weeks while we waited for the surgery, but there always seems to be new news. Oy! So glad I got to go to a beautiful wedding this weekend and be in a beautiful place with my extended family and have that distraction for a couple days.
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