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ok, so the plan is changing. no more with the immediate chemo.
saw doc #2 today--dr. goff, the gynecologic oncologist. had an ultrasound of my ovaries, my uterus, and all nearby abdominal parts, including where my appendix used to be.
everything looks boringly normal, healthy, perfectly fine.
i told dr. goff that i was probably going to have the intraperitoneal chemo, and she looked at me for a moment, then said, "are you planning to have children?" i hemmed and hawed...well i'm hitting 40 pretty soon...probably not...hadn't firmly decided...blah blah blah. she didn't say much more then, but later we (she, her nurse practitioner, and i) met in a conference room to discuss everything. she said she would probably be a lot more cautious with the intraperitoneal chemo. here's the rationale, in list form:
1. the type of tumor i had in my appendix is *not* cancerous. that means the cells will be dividing at a normal rate, not at the accelerated rate at which cancer cells divide. chemotherapy only works on rapidly dividing cells (it works by interrupting DNA replication). so, there's no guarantee the chemo would even touch my tumor cells anyway, IF there are even any hanging around, which we don't know for sure at this point. they have no idea how likely i am to develop pseudomyxoma peritonei (PMP), but they DO know that i don't show any signs of having it now.
2. the chemo drug (i believe it's called mitomycin) they would use is highly likely to send me into menopause.
3. the less likely but possible complications from intraperitoneal chemotherapy include massive scarring, adhesions on the intestines that might result in intestinal blockages, and damage to other major organs.
4. i'm very healthy and very active right now, with perfectly normal gynecological organs and fully functional abdominal organs. doing the chemo might cause me to have chronic health problems, basically for no reason, because i might never develop PMP to begin with.
this echoes my first inclination, when dr. mann was presenting me with the 3 options. i generally prefer to err on the side of *less* invasive treatment and *less* intervention. so...it makes sense to me. dr. goff said she would probably just keep an eye on me, if i were her patient, and do CT scans every 6 months for a couple of years, then decide what to do after that.
so that's what i'm gonna do.
pour yourself a glass of wine or crack open a beer, and toast to my continued good health, ok? i'll take all the good vibes i can get.
saw doc #2 today--dr. goff, the gynecologic oncologist. had an ultrasound of my ovaries, my uterus, and all nearby abdominal parts, including where my appendix used to be.
everything looks boringly normal, healthy, perfectly fine.
i told dr. goff that i was probably going to have the intraperitoneal chemo, and she looked at me for a moment, then said, "are you planning to have children?" i hemmed and hawed...well i'm hitting 40 pretty soon...probably not...hadn't firmly decided...blah blah blah. she didn't say much more then, but later we (she, her nurse practitioner, and i) met in a conference room to discuss everything. she said she would probably be a lot more cautious with the intraperitoneal chemo. here's the rationale, in list form:
1. the type of tumor i had in my appendix is *not* cancerous. that means the cells will be dividing at a normal rate, not at the accelerated rate at which cancer cells divide. chemotherapy only works on rapidly dividing cells (it works by interrupting DNA replication). so, there's no guarantee the chemo would even touch my tumor cells anyway, IF there are even any hanging around, which we don't know for sure at this point. they have no idea how likely i am to develop pseudomyxoma peritonei (PMP), but they DO know that i don't show any signs of having it now.
2. the chemo drug (i believe it's called mitomycin) they would use is highly likely to send me into menopause.
3. the less likely but possible complications from intraperitoneal chemotherapy include massive scarring, adhesions on the intestines that might result in intestinal blockages, and damage to other major organs.
4. i'm very healthy and very active right now, with perfectly normal gynecological organs and fully functional abdominal organs. doing the chemo might cause me to have chronic health problems, basically for no reason, because i might never develop PMP to begin with.
this echoes my first inclination, when dr. mann was presenting me with the 3 options. i generally prefer to err on the side of *less* invasive treatment and *less* intervention. so...it makes sense to me. dr. goff said she would probably just keep an eye on me, if i were her patient, and do CT scans every 6 months for a couple of years, then decide what to do after that.
so that's what i'm gonna do.
pour yourself a glass of wine or crack open a beer, and toast to my continued good health, ok? i'll take all the good vibes i can get.
