Sat early AM update

I have heard from a number of ya'll today so, I will give the next update. I am doing this not only to inform those that are interested but also for me to chronicle each step. Again, if this is too much information for anyone, let me know and I will take you off the list.

Today John has felt really sick. He told me that he thinks he needs to cut back on the medication because it is making him feel bad! Still trying to treat himself. He has slept most the day and has not been able to hold down anything, even water. We have checked him for dehydration and he is OK on that, blood pressure is good as well as his heart rate.

After many hours of chewing on the PET scan report and realizing that we don't have a Dr. that is in the US at this time, (Dr. Shalaby is in Egypt for 3 or 4 weeks), I decided that I had to have more information. I called and spoke to the on call oncologist, Dr. Cummings, he was not only a Lubbock native (speaks my language) he was also very pleasant and helpful. We talked about the diagnosis, the treatment, the PET scan report coming to us after the chemo and all that I mentioned before. He did say that if there is something wrong in John's colon and rectal area, the protocol of drugs he is on now would also address what may be there. Dr. Cummings said that it was rare to have primary tumors in two totally different locations and said that if Johns blood values don't decrease too much, he could probably have a colonoscopy sooner than June 11. He understood my frustration that we weren't alerted before the chemo so that the colonoscopy would have already taken place. I felt better at the end of our conversation.

Late this afternoon, Dr. Bill Williams, the Gastro Doc called and told me that he had been trying to reach me for hours. ( l left to have my hair cut without my cell for a while today) He had seen the PET scan and had gone over it with Dr. David Close (an oncologist that is part of this big group). Bill told John and me that there are a lot of false positives in PET scans and the only way to know for sure is to do a colonoscopy. Blood work must be done before this procedure and this is a holiday weekend, all the blood labs are closed until Tuesday (other than emergency rooms). He plans to make some calls tomorrow to see if he can arrange to have blood-work done during the weekend, he would like to monitor it to see how it is reacting to the chemo, anyway. If he can find a lab and all is well, he will do the colonoscopy on Tuesday. If we don't do blood-work until Monday, the colonoscopy could take place on Tuesday. He said the sooner we do it, the less likely his values will drop. I am so grateful to Bill Williams. This guy is an incredibly compassionate and "plugged in to the situation" Doctor. I expect we will hear from him sometime tomorrow.

He also said that it is very unlikely that there is another primary tumor in the colon or rectum. He said that anything is possible and John may be the first one to have that situation but, he highly doubts it. I trust him, he tells it like it is.

John is tucked into bed, sleeping soundly and hopefully resting in a healing sleep. I am expecting a better sleep tonight since talking to these Doctors this afternoon. I have better information and I have a very attuned Gastro guy that is staying on top of this. We may have to switch Oncologists. I am not sure that I will trust him. Plus, he is Egyptian and it is difficult to understand what he is saying. I need to hear and understand every word.

OK, I am going to make an attempt at sleep now. Thank you all for your concern and hopefully today will be the only bad day Sweet John has.