The best thing about my psychiatric appointment was that Dr Ward reassured me that what I was experiencing was a long large panic attack! The mind is so vulnerable and the speed that I went into decline is just unbelievable. It is so difficult to haul yourself out of this frame of mind and the things that went through my head were hideous! My sisters were my support this weekend (Diana being in Toronto) and hopefully this won’t happen again. Dr Ward intends to up the dosage a little of the tablet I take but understanding more does help enormously. My frame of mind was so much better as we left for St Joseph picking up Phil from the station on the way.
I suppose I should explain a little of what I am having surgery for……..! As you all know I have my team now set up at St Joseph’s and the team there have been great. I am also under the care of an oncologist at Sloane Kettering in New York and with another oncologist at Johns Hopkins here in Baltimore. We have been so fortunate in finding these amazing doctors and the most awesome thing is that they are all happy to work together to try and find the most suitable treatment for me. Yesterday’s surgery was for Dr Sidransky’s team to begin their molecular analysis of my specific tumour. In order to do this they need a sample of the tissue and any of the fluid around it. The surgery was done by Dr Krasna who is the head of the team at St Joseph’s and the results will also be forwarded to Dr Miller in New York! One of the studies involves bits of the tumour being planted into special imunosupressed mice! The cancers are then treated with different types of chemo to find the most appropriate drugs for me. At the same time there are some molecular studies being done on the rest of the samples. Of course I am giving you the briefest synopsis of this incredible procedure and I’m sure there will be those of you who want to read more. I will post the places to log onto so you can do that!
Dr Sidransky’s team met us the hospital. Sara is the director of the personalised oncology service and the nurse who explained everything again to us and Jim Martell who is the founder of this incredible Biotech company called Champions. Sara went into theatre with me and she collected the samples which were then speedily taken to the team waiting to do the implants at Johns Hopkins. Jim sat with Diana, Russ and Phil while this was taking place and he was a huge support to them all. Sara kept them informed of my progress and was there to explain again and again as needed! We actually all felt amazing and excited the whole day. It felt like we were part of new world treatment. This is how we can all hope that cancer treatment will be for everyone in the future. Personalised and accurate and with all doctors working together! We were like Trekkies with me as the Captain of the Enterprise going into uncharted territories! It is hard to describe a surgical day as uplifting but it truly was and we all appreciated very much the compassion and commitment from Sara and Jim. I saw them all in recovery and we had all spoken to Dr Krasna by then. The surgery went well, Dr Sidransky got his bits and we could not stop smiling! Dr Krasna did say that he did not find much malignant tissue in the fibrotic mess around my lung so we were overjoyed. I could actually feel myself not going into meltdown anymore! We will have some more results in 48 hours and of course I will keep you posted. I know there have been many calls at home from you all so thanks again for all the love and support. Especially to my Mom who has been in constant contact with all of us and is the core of the strength that we all have! Your "Adrinki" loves you very much!
Carpe Diem.
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