June 9 - Poked, prodded, and tested

Met with Dr. Paul Corn at 10AM yesterday. I like him.He offered us several alternative biological therapies, talked at length about tomotherapy, and is willing to discuss my records with his surgeon. No avenue cut off yet. So, the upshot is, by running all the tests at MD Anderson, he would have enough data to advise on treatments and have a plan of attack by the time I head back to Albuquerque.

That means I spent all day Friday being poked, prodded, and tested. I had a CT scan, bone scan, complete blood work-up (four vials!), and chest x-ray. It was a long and exhausting day. Still facing an MRI on Monday. That will conclude the tests and we will meet with him on Tuesday. I am very encouraged by this, more so than when we returned from Dr. Lee's visit. I think MD Anderson sees lots more of my type of cancer and can offer  many different therapies that UNM might not have available. I think we lucked into Dr. Heywood, the surgeon who did my liver resections, and now he's not practicing at UNM any more. So I will be treated in Houston.

It may mean finding an apartment to rent for a couple of months here and finding someone to house-sit for us in Albuquerque, but it's not all bad. I get to see Houston family and friends more frequently. How's that for finding a silver lining??

Spent today with family. Lunch with Aunt Pat and Sylvia ... dinner with the Campise cousins. Great fun reminiscing, catching up on the latest news, laughing, and just talking. Ashley was able to come along and show off baby Andrew, who proved what a good baby he was by sleeping most of the time. Back at the hotel now, tired and ready for bed.

Feeling more upbeat than I have in quite a while.