Thursday, May 18, 2006

Oncologist consultation, May 17, 2006

Yesterday, Anne-Marie and I went to a consultation with our oncologist, Dr. John Smith. He informed us that the complete diagnosis is "infiltrating ductile cancer." This means that the cancer is not contained within a vessel, node, or duct, but has actually broken through the wall of one of the ducts and has begun to adversely affect the surrounding tissue.

The cancer is active (trying to spread) and feeds on hormones. Cancer that feeds on hormones can be "starved" through a type of hormonal therapy that withholds the hormones from a specific area of the cancer patient's body. This is positive news.

Chemotherapy would be administered in conjunction with the hormonal therapy, but would take place only after surgery to remove the tumor. The type of surgery to be performed is yet to be determined. Pray that we will know what to do.

The doctors have encouraged us to take our time...as long as we have an answer by next week.

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