Next Stop (we hope): MD Anderson Cancer Center
Mom is still at home, trying to heal from the second surgery. For some reason, her incision isn’t healing and she is having to have a nurse come over everyday to pack the wound with gauze. She was essentially ordered to bed rest by the doctor until this can heal up. They really don’t want to have to send her back into surgery if she has more complications. Also, the longer it takes this to heal, the longer her treatment for the liver is postponed. She received two units of blood this week which should help her heal faster and she is being really good about taking it easy and avoiding bending or strenuous activity. Jay even got her a grabber thing so she could pick things up without having to bend over.
It sounds like Mom and Jay are really leaning towards wanting to go to the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas to address the cancer in the liver. All of the research we have read refers to the liver specialists at MD Anderson as the best and they have done many research studies specifically on colorectal cancer that has metastasize to the liver. Additionally, Mom and Jay seem to be a little frustrated with Dr. Barrington lately because she hasn’t been very forthcoming with information on Mom’s future treatment. I do understand that my mom’s cancer team has to wait and see how things go as Mom heals but it would be nice to have some sort of idea of what the treatment options are and the timing of it all so we could plan a little better. For me personally, I think that going to the MD Anderson Cancer Center would be great and I am very hopeful that mom is accepted as I want her to get the best care available. We completed a self referral form on their website but we are going to speak to the surgeon on mom’s cancer team, Dr. Given, to see if he would complete a physician referral for us as well. He already referred us to a liver specialist in San Antonio but he said he understood if we wanted a second opinion or to select a different doctor.
We are hoping to hear back from MD Anderson some time next week. I will let you know what happens!
