My urology oncologist called late yesterday and as we’re learning, he explained all the moving parts and thought processes to us so well. Billy and I really appreciate this. He had been talking about my case with a Dr Patel at the OU Cancer Center in Oklahoma City. Dr Patel believes that he can do the surgery and remove the adrenal gland, tumor and only scrape the top of the kidney to remove some radiation scarring attaching the adrenal and kidney together. This is great news for my kidney function and opportunity for open treatments going forward. However, they cannot tell until they go in for surgery if the pancreas tail and the spleen are attached due to radiation scarring as well. They would make the decision to remove these parts while in surgery.
Before we can take the next step with surgery Dr Patel will receive my full chart to review more throughly. Also, I will have a CT guided biospy to ensure we know exactly what we are dealing with. Is this the original malignant cancer or adrenal cancer or an adrenal adenoma. My doctors expect it to come back as the original malignancy cancer, meaning vaginal adenocarcinoma that moved to the adrenal gland. I’m skeptical because I don’t understand why the radiation has worked everywhere else on my body, but this did not work. It may be a mystery that is never solved. Regardless, the normal treatment for any of these is to surgically resect the area.
I’m going to do blood work this afternoon to confirm I’m still safe to do the adrenal biopsy. After the biopsy results we will talk to Dr Patel in OKC and schedule next steps.
Pray for my physical safety and for wisdom and forward thinking for the doctors. Also for my family’s peace in the unknown and waiting.
