Moving right along

I had a consult with the colorectal surgeon today, to discuss plans now that I’ve had however many rounds of chemo and a new set of scans. She agrees that I’ve had a good response to the chemo, and wants to plan on surgery.

But first… there’s always something else. My particular tumor, right on the line between colon and rectal, is of a type and in a location where the outcome is improved by radiation. I’m going to be stopping the heavy-dose chemo, and instead having radiation and lower-dose chemo: 5-FU, but continuously or nearly so instead of the three days on, eleven days off I’ve been doing.

There will be 4-6 weeks of that, followed by a 6-8 week recovery period prior to surgery, which puts surgery around the end of August. Which means I probably can do many of the things I want to do this summer, depending on how well I tolerate the radiation. I’ll have to talk to my oncologist first, to see what he thinks about traveling. But at least I won’t be spending my whole summer recovering from surgery. It does make World Fantasy a bit iffy, but not necessarily impossible. That will definitely be a wait and see event.

I’m not sure what this means for tomorrow’s planned chemotherapy. Maybe nothing, maybe I’ll get to skip it, maybe I’ll get to skip the oxaliplatin again. It was really very nice to have a couple weeks without the evil cold sensitivity. Not that it was cold out, but the whole “tap water is like drinking broken glass” thing I could do without. And the ability to take things out of the refrigerator without pain, I like that part too. Four weeks after the last dose of oxaliplatin I’m even able to get things out of the freezer.

I’m willing to do whatever is most likely to work, but still. It’s nice to get a break. I think I should have some ice cream now, just in case.