You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it. -Margaret Thatcher

Today was the big appointment day...and we are smiling!

We met with Dr. Ferrone, whom we absolutely loved. She is young, brilliant and gave us HOPE.

She started off by sharing the images with us, the liver tumor is actually 5 cm, the size of a small orange. She then showed us exactly what will be done, she will take the bottom portion of his liver off, about 35% of it. The liver is the only organ that does regenerate, so I said, "I guess we are pretty lucky that the tumor is on the liver and not another vital organ!" She agreed. Not only will they do the liver resection, but they will also have a thorasic surgeon there who will remove the smaller tumors on Alec's lungs. And, heck, while they are at it, why not reverse his illiostomy!? Three surgeries in one day...we say bring it on!!!

The hard part is coordinating 3 surgeons from 3 different departments on the same day and MGH is working on that now. We are looking at Dr. Shellito to do the reversal, he was the surgeon that did Alec's colorectal tumor removal. Dr. Waine will hopefully be Alec's thorasic surgeon. He was actually my Papa's lung surgeon more than 15 years ago. Papa was told to go home and die after his diagnosis of lung cancer at Maine Medical, but after seeking a second opinion from Dr. Waine at MGH, he was given a chance and Dr. Waine saved his life (Dr. Waine was a little over 30 at the time, now he is 50 something, Alec asked fearing some old geezer with shaky hands). Dr. Ferrone will do his liver surgery which will be the most invasive and risky of the three. I feel as though he is in the BEST hands and that they will perform a miracle.

Of course there are risks...and the biggest of them being that it may not get rid of the cancer. There is no guarantee, but at least its an option and she said since Alec is otherwise very healthy and young, lets push the envelope and try to eliminate the cancer once and for all.

Alec will have a liver MRI tomorrow and by then the surgery should be scheduled. The tentative date is November 11th, Veterans Day, less than 2 weeks away. Healing after this surgery is not as bad as the last surgery, however Alec will be extremely fatigued for 4-6 weeks after as his body is going to be working overtime to regenerate his liver.

Waiting to meet with Dr. Ferrone was probably the hardest part. At one point I thought, I just can not possibly pray any more, think about the what ifs or worry. It was just too overwhelming. To meet with Dr. Ferrone and to come out with a plan and smiling and to have HOPE again was all we could ask for. Alec told her "You are our hero". I told her, "We have had a new hero every other month here!" And we came to the conclusion that these doctors are a team of heros and we are just so thankful that MGH is in our backyard. There is no place we would rather be.

Thank you all for your prayers this week. It was certainly a long week since we received the news last Wednesday, but things are looking up and we are again filled with HOPE!

Love to all,

Heather and Alec