Palliative care

This was the week that we finally met with an oncologist.  I kept reading about a "team" of doctors that were supposed to look at test results, confer, speak to the patient, and come up with a plan of treatment. On Monday after his radiation treatment, Tom and I met with Dr. Mc Donald (aka Death Angel) to discuss future treatment.  When I asked her about our "team", she explained that we were supposed have met with an oncologist weeks ago, who would help to coordinate things before Tom's surgery, but because  that happened so quickly an appointment was never made. She acknowledged that it should be done and set us up with an appointment to meet Dr. DeGraca.

We met with Dr. DeGraca on Wednesday morning before Tom's treatment. We  explained that the only future planning discussed was with the surgeon Dr. Parsons, who had confirmed that it was stage 3 and told us Tom would need radiation to shrink the tumors and then surgery. Well, it appears that Dr. Parsons had spoken before all the results were in, and probably being a surgeon, he believed that cutting it out was the way to go, because after all he is a surgeon and that is what they do.

Dr. DeGrasa confirmed that the cancer is stage 4 which means it has spread. He told us that surgical removal was not recommended at this point. Chemotherapy seems to be the recommended course of action. Palliative chemotherapy is given if surgery is not a treatment option. Palliative chemotherapy can increase overall survival and may temporarily shrink or stabilize a tumor, thus reducing symptoms and extending the patient's life.  Dr. DeGraca told us that he has patients that he has been treating since 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011 etc.

Needless to say, we had a sad ride home.

But by the next day, we were back to living in the moment and making the best of things. So here are some pictures we took on the way home on Thursday:

Heavenly Donuts make us happy!

I'm ready to go inside and get one now.

The happiest of all stops.