We had another conference room meeting last night. This one was planned, so it wasn't as scary as the ones down in ICU. Those ones were terrifying. The doctors would all breeze past you with their mouths set in firm lines, and one of them would gesture for you to follow. This one was much easier. Our doctors had all met at "Tumor Board" to discuss the best course of action for Eleanor's treatment and this meeting was just to fill us in on it.
We will be going through 6 to 8 cycles of chemotherapy, starting off relatively mild and extremely well supervised (back to Intensive Care). Each cycle will be about 3 weeks apart. Cancer has not spread to lymph nodes or to her bones, which is good, but there are 3 nodules on her lungs that may be of concern. We never got an accurate picture of her lungs because her heart was too unstable to risk holding her breath when she was incubated. So they might be totally unrelated, but most likely they are cancerous and if the chemo doesn't get rid of them, she will need surgery down the road to chop them out.
Good news on her heart! Her echo this week looks better than pre-operation! They keep telling us it will take 9 months to a year to go back to normal, but I have a sneaking suspicion that it will bounce back much quicker. The source of the cortisol (the tumor) is gone, and she is so resilient, I feel like her body can heal anything. Well, except cancer. She is going to need some help with that!
Chemo is terrifying. It's going to make her so sickly and for such a long time. And she can't tell us what hurts or what she wants. But I have a full four days before treatment starts to enjoy her and all her fuss-bottom ways, and we will enjoy every second!
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