Friday Update

I met with my doctors today and got the first idea of what to expect and what they were thinking. The cardiac surgeon was POSITIVE he could remove the tumor and rebuild my right atrium if it came to that and that's really positive news because we were worried that this wouldn't be a possibility. The problem is that since the sarcoma has spread outside of my heart and is in at least two other places this must be treated systematically with chemotherapy before any other options can be considered. The success rate of this treatment is 40-50% and I am happy with those odds. So basically I start treatment tomorrow (Saturday) and unless there are any incidents it will continue for six weeks and then I will be re-evaluated and the next course of action will be decided.

The hope is that the chemo stops the progression and even kills most of the sarcoma cells. If that works as planned then the doctors will decide the next step, which could be surgery or radiation (or both). If the chemo doesn't stop the progression then they will re-evaluate. I feel good right now and when people see me for the first time I get the impression they are surprised because they were expecting a sick person, and right now I look no different than I did 3 months ago. It was somewhat amusing today during my 3-D sonogram that people from that department kept coming in to see the "thing" in my heart. They keep telling me that they have never seen anything like it...I guess if that means more doctors looking at it, I will take it.

I don't want to sound cheesy but I can't believe all the support I have been getting. My phone won't stop ringing, my annoying text message sound wont stop sounding and the phones of the people here with me (Shana, Mom, Dad, Matt, Joan and Michelle) wont stop ringing and to be honest it makes me feel pretty good - my family, friends, co-workers and acquaintances have not let me get down about this and that's important. I had some visitors that live around here today and it was nice to see some familiar faces and I love reading the comments on the blog (I can't believe how quickly this thing spread!). To everyone who has called, texted, emailed, commented here and visited thank you so much...it means a lot to me and I am 100% sure that all this support is a huge part of how positive I feel about this.

I talked to a lot of people today that I haven't talked to in a long time and it's amazing to me that no matter what changes in our lives that cause us to lose touch with people we love and consider friends, you will always love those people and consider them your friends. It sucks that it's under these circumstances that I am reconnecting with people I haven't talked to in a long time, but at least we are reconnecting and it's been very uplifting.

Thanks again for all the comments...every single one of them put a smile on my face and I am actually looking forward to starting my treatment tomorrow. I will be sure to let everyone know how it goes.