Readying

Today was a long day.

4 hours at the oncologist's office.

We got some answers.

But still have a lot of questions.

Here is what we know:

Because of my mom's ascites (fluid in her belly),

it is usually a good indicator of advanced stages of cancer. (Stages III or IV)

The surgeon will stage the cancer during the surgery when she can see the entire picture.

Once the surgery is over, we will have a pretty good idea of what we're up against. 

Tissue samples will be sent to pathology and can take up to a week to get results, so 100% diagnosis won't be known until then. 

Because my mom had only a pelvic MRI done, the gyn/onc can't see the other organs that could possibly be involved. 

A CT scan is scheduled for tomorrow afternoon. 

At this point, the doctor thinks it's probably ovarian cancer, but because she can't see everything she needs to clearly, she can't say for certain until she has an oncologist radiologist read the CT results. 

It could be attached to her colon. To her uterus. 

She just can't be positive.

If the cancer has spread and the disease is in large quantities, 

chemotherapy will be done first to shrink the cancer.

Surgery will be scheduled 3 months later.

If the cancer has spread but the disease is in small quantities, 

surgery will be done first.

She will have a radical hysterectomy as well as removing any and all diseased tissue they can see.

This is called "debulking".

The surgery is usually 3-4 hours.

She will be in the hospital 2-7 days.

Three weeks after surgery, she will start chemotherapy. 

She will do six rounds.

So here's the plan as we know it:

Tomorrow - CT scan

Thursday - Pre-op appt with internal medicine doctor

Tuesday - Debulking surgery at 12:30

(This is of course if she doesn't have to do chemo first)

My mom has such a positive attitude and such a great support system.

She is ready to fight. 

Continue to pray for her.

She really does feel the love.