Well, thanks to an amazing send-off and some incredible fundraising efforts by neighbours, friends and family, we made it to Sweden!! Mom and I arrived at Rob and Lisa's last Thursday and were joined by Tom, Bonnie (Mom's sister) and my cousin Lisa on Friday. Once more it was a whirlwind Easter weekend in Runtorp, complete with good food, chocolate, lots of laughs, trampolines, village parties, Easter witches, egg hunts, lots of skåls (cheers), long walks and tons of fun time with Joel and Astrid. On Monday Lisa headed back home to Canada and the rest of us headed out on our big adventure to Uppsala to meet with the world expert in neuroendocrine tumours. Uppsala is a beautiful old city about an hour north of Stockholm. The hospital here is over 400 years old and is tucked away at the base of a 16th century castle.
On Tuesday Mom underwent a series of tests and today Rob, Tom, Mom and I met with Dr. Öberg the endocrine oncologist, head of the Centre of Excellence for Neuroendocrine Oncology. They have been doing research at this centre for decades and Dr. Öberg told us that he has treated over two thousand patients from 118 different countries with Mom's type of cancer. Once again, we all had to hold back from hugging him, just for all of the kindness and support he has extended to us already. He has a kind face with a twinkle in his eyes. He sat with us for an hour answering every question and giving us lots of options and encouragement.So here is the news:
First of all, the lesions in the liver have reduced since January. There are only five visible on the scan (down from 'too many to count' in July according to the radiologist), and all of them are under 1cm in size. It appears that the Avastin is not only stabilizing the disease but is also helping to attack the cancer cells in the liver. Great news!
The second bit of news is that no new lesions have developed anywhere in Mom's body, which is great, however, there are still two masses in the omentum which have grown since January. They are located on the outside of the large bowel (not in the bowel) and appear to have caked together in clusters. When asked to describe the tumours, he told us to visualize them as little clouds. He then drew a picture for us of the exact location of these 'clouds' and gave us a detailed game plan to take back to Canada.
Although we were a bit disappointed to hear that the cancer had grown in the omentum, we were really happy to hear that it had reduced in the liver and that Dr. Öberg has lots of options. He still feels that we can get this cancer and gave us examples of others who have beaten it. He was amazed at how healthy Mom is and told her to keep up with all of the things she is doing to keep her body strong. He suggested a couple of new drugs that are on the market now (one which is available in Canada) that have shown very promising results and are well tolerated, especially when used in combination with Avastin. He also gave us a number of other options to consider if needed down the road. We just have to keep outsmarting it.
Med vänlig hälsning,
Julie, Rob, Tom, Shirley-Dale and Bonnie
