the plan

When we first met with a surgeon to discuss Wes's cancer she quickly told us this was a surgery she was not comfortable performing because it is so complicated and required a specialist. I remember feeling overwhelmed at the prospect of finding a good surgeon and an oncologist that could essentially save my husband's life. My dad came to the rescue. Since he is a cardiologist he networked, asked around, and gave us names of the best surgeons in Salt Lake. Everyone seemed to think the top guy for this colorectal job was Dr. Kim. I called LDS hospital to see if he had any openings. I was told the man was completely booked until May (that's what happens when you're the best) and that I should try to find someone else because we needed surgery as soon as possible. We wanted Dr. Kim. My dad talked with his friend and set us up with an incredible colorectal oncologist, Dr. Whisenant. Before our appointments started for the week Wes had a vivid dream that Dr. Kim was his surgeon. Wes was promised long ago that his dreams would have meaning and direction (he dreamed we would have a girl when I was pregnant with Lily, and he dreamed he would marry me after only knowing me for a short time) so he was certain we would find a way to get in with him. Within the next two days Dr. Kim's office called us to set up an appointment to talk about surgery. Turns out Dr. Whisenant works closely with Dr. Kim and they all decided to fit us in to their busy schedules. Each time we have had to tell nurses or receptionists who our team of doctors is they have all said we have the dream team working on us. Dr. Whisenant wasn't even doing office appointments last week, but he met with us anyway. So we had doctors, some incredible doctors, and I barely had to lift a finger or stress about who is good and who isn't. Isn't my dad wonderful?

Last week we met with the oncologist and the surgeon. Dr. Whisenant was concerned because a) wes is obviously really young and b)his CEA blood count was pretty high, but said he expected to cure this cancer. It felt so good to finally hear someone in the medical field say something positive. The rectal tumor seems to be making things super complicated for us. Dr. Whisenant explained that they usually do radiation and chemotherapy before they do surgery to shrink the tumor. But, because Wes has another tumor farther up that the chemo would not even address for a whole month while we did that, he didn't feel good about letting that one just sit and grow while we tried to treat the other one. He told us about short term radiation they have used for years in Europe and how studies have shown Europe has been doing it right all along and America has only started doing it in the past couple of years. We had to make sure this was what the surgeon wanted to do, so we met with him the next day.

Dr. Kim walked us through all of Wes's tests and then started to talk about surgery. We were hoping they could cut out the cancerous portion of Wes's colon and hook him back up. Dr. Kim told us right away that we need to take the whole thing out. That's only a six foot long organ. Because he is so young and this is most likely a genetic type of cancer and the fact that there are two tumors they want it all out so there is absolutely no chance of cancer being found in his colon again, because well, he won't have a colon. He is certain he can take out the whole colon and then reattach the small intestine to what is left of the rectum. Wes's lifestyle will definitely change. It is not going to be easy. Recovery is going to be an absolute beast and his potty life will never ever be the same. He will have to learn how to poop all over again. We are on the hunt for adult superman diapers for those first few months! It was a bit overwhelming and slightly disappointing, but at this point we will do anything to keep Wes on the planet. Even though not tests were able to confirm that the cancer had spread to Wes's lymphnodes, Dr. Kim said he would not be surprised if they found some infected lymphnodes when they go in for surgery. They will not know how far it has spread until they go in and take everything out. If they do find some, Wes will need chemo after surgery for six months.

So the plan looks like this: Wes will start short term radiation next week. He will get radiation treatments for 5 days on his rectal cancer hoping to shrink it and reduce the chance of cancer coming back in his rectum. They will let his body rest for a week and then Dr. Kim will perform a total colectomy on March 23rd. Wes will probably be in the hospital for 5 days after that. He will come home with a poop bag coming out of his abdomen while they let his colon area heal. If they have found infected lymph nodes he will keep the bag for six months while he does chemo. If they don't find any spread after two months they will go in again and reattach his small intestine to his rectum and get rid of the bag. Fear not if all goes well, he will poop again! I get some anxiety when I think about caring for his wounds and caring for him at home, but we feel so good about this plan of action. Wes's humor through all this amazes me. When they told him they had to take it all out he joked that they could cut anything out, but he just wanted to keep his hands. What a long road we have ahead of us, but we sure are jazzed about getting this thing out.