Thursday, March 12, 2015

The Big Results

When we first went to see Dr. Sardi in February - we were given a few scenarios of what could have happened. The plan has always been to begin laproscopically and have a look around;

1. Best Case Scenario: Sees nothing. Sews him up back and sends us on our way.
2. Worst Case Scenario One: Sees Cancer spread, opens him up, does cytroductive surgery and HIPEC.
3. Worst Case Scenario Two: The cancer spreads to the lymph nodes.

Surgery determined that the cancer did not spread to the abdominal cavity. While they DID open him up, it was very good news. So since then, we've just been waiting on the lymph node results. We got those yesterday morning.

They biopsied all areas of him stomach, the colon, spleen, etc., including 30 lymph nodes. I am beyond thrilled to announce that there was absolutely zero evidence of cancer - anywhere. Including his lymph nodes. 0 out of 30 showed invasion. It was a truly amazing day with the best news we could have possibly heard. Dr. Sardi is amazing and even went so far as to say it means there is a low chance of recurrence.Chad may not even need chemotherapy, it will be a decision he and his local oncologist make. He still had the most aggressive strand, which is Signet Ring Cell, so in MY un-medical-professional opinion, I think he should still consider it and take an aggressive approach because we want to do everything we can to lower the chance of recurrence. But that will be a decision made in time.

Now? He has to heal.

We need to breath. I know people keep saying how 'lucky' Chad is and even when I say it myself, it burns. How can someone who was handed such a grim diagnosis be considered lucky? Someone who hasn't been able to work for months and won't be able to work for many more months, be considered lucky? I have spent every waking hour of the past two months on edge, reading, researching and fighting... My husband HAD cancer. I guess he would be considered in 'remission' now? He wasn't lucky. But he has been blessed. Because things could have been so much worse and we are just so beyond thankful that divine intervention has allowed him to fight this as effectively as he has thus far. And God willing, we are able to continue fighting it so we never have to see it again.

When Chad was in the ER on January 3rd, prior to all of this happening, with stomach pains - a random ER doctor had a theory as to what kept causing these severe stomach attacks.  Porphyria. It is a blood disease (a rare one of course!) that results from a build up of chemicals in the blood. It can be a fatal disease and affects the nervous system. It's a frightening thing to consider. With that said, many people who carry the gene never see a symptom (or at least aren't aware of it) The doctor sent out for the test but we never did hear anything back and since we were dealing with the cancer diagnosis - never really thought much of it.

Until one day when I was pouring over his medical records and came across the results. Looked positive to me but I wasn't sure. So prior to surgery I made sure to bring this up with the doctors which led to them bringing in a Blood Specialist. They ran a bunch of tests and while we only have 1 of the 9 back, it is elevated and may suggest Chad tested positive for Porphyria. A rare blood disease. What is it with my husband getting these rare diseases no one has ever heard of?

While we are still waiting on the finalized results - there is something interesting to consider. Porphyria has a few side effects when someone has an attack, one being sever abdominal pain due to infection of some sort. So, back on January 2nd - when we had that bad BBQ which got me sick (food poisoning?) and then got him sick - which led us to the ER. Back when we fought to get him admitted, back when his gallbladder just happened to be failing and they just happened to take out his appendix because "why not, its a useless organ"

.... Do you guys understand how all these weird, unrelated things just happened? Just because? If he didn't have porphyria... which became active during the food poisoning... We likely never would have gone to the hospital, they never would have seen his gallbladder was failing and his appendix would have still been in his body.

So if he DOES test positive for this crazy (and scarey blood disease) .. it very well may have saved his life.

I can't even handle the world anymore. The blessings. The what-if's. The "Can you imagines?"

It blows my mind. It absolutely blows my mind.

1 comment:

  1. Great news! I hope the final results are just as fantastic!

    xoxo

    ReplyDelete