Good News...Sorta

Well, prayer is working!! We got good results today...it's a really big tumor and they would expect a tumor that size to have metastasized to other parts of her body if it was cancerous...and it has not!!! They aren't saying it isn't cancerous, just that it might not be, and if it is, it's all centrally located.

So, we wait some more....the doctor wants her to be on the strictest of diets for the next week. Then next week we will get another CT scan to measure the tumor. If it has reduced in size we will continue the fabulous liquid concoction diet and see if the tumor will go away completely. One possible cause is that her pancreas could be digesting itself and the tumor is made of digested pancreas. That's what the doctor is going with right now.

If it doesn't shrink, then we will go to the Children's Hospital attached to the Health Sciences University and get a biopsy. They can do that by endoscopy, putting a tube down her throat and taking a little sample.

Frankly, I expected a referral to an endocrinologist or the Children's Hospital. I think I will go ahead and see if we can get an appointment at the Children's Hospital and get in the system. If we wait until after we eat liquid for a week, get another CT scan and wait for the results and then make an appointment we are really looking at a month down the road.

I asked the doctor if we could just make all the appointments for everything and cancel those we didn't need if it came time and we didn't need them...I might be just a little impatient...he said no...sigh.

I am encouraged!! The two worst case scenarios are both better than chemo for months on end...the worst of the worst is that her pancreas is eating itself and we need a transplant because we can't control it, the other worst case scenario is that it's cancer and they remove the tumor and we do a little radiation. I know it seems weird that anyone would be excited about either of these choices, but really they look so survivable, and so doable without months and months of torture.

I asked Ken how he was doing yesterday, he is having trouble seeing her in pain and being helpless to do anything about it. We all are. We just want it fixed...yesterday.