Surgery and hopeful news

Monday Jan 4 Jim and I are at Alleghany waiting to be called back soon to have my medication port placed. It will be under the skin on my left chest, about the size of a walnut and will be how my chemo is delivered once a regimen is chosen. Jim’s phone rings at about 9:30. It’s Dr. K. He heard from Duke this morning and they want to meet with me. He says there is “exciting” news there, can we go? We get called back, changed and ready for surgery when another call comes in. I have an appointment at Duke at 10:00 a.m. the next day. We call the house and speak with my parents and Jenna. They are packed to return to Buffalo and Jenna is going to take them to the airport. My mom calls Leila in Chapel Hill and the plans start rolling. We come home, eat lunch and pack while Jenna and my folks leave for the Roanoke airport. We’ll leave one car there and Jim and I will pick Jenna up on our way south. We don’t have much details or definition of “exciting” at this point but we’re ready to take a shot at it. Meanwhile Chris is hot on the research trail. Before I leave I have printed off some of the Duke protocol studies, the bio on the doc I’m going to see and tons of information including national treatment protocol search engines. Makes for some light reading before the morning appointment : )

We arrive at Aunt Leila’s and she assures us she is ready for this challenge. Dinner is delicious and we update her on the little we know so far. We visit, watch a movie and plan for Tuesday.