Second Opinions

Yesterday was a very long day!  Heidi and I went to see Dr. Eric Espinal a Thoracic surgeon at Akron City Hospital.  This man is a proffessional!  I am so glad I was directed towards him!  Thanks Ginny and Beth for this.  Dr. Espinal confirmed the information that I was given by the first surgeon.  The cancer is in esophagus and outside of esophagus in the Lymph Nodes.  He also believes that it is in part of stomach.  Dr. Espinal said the cancer is too wide spread now to do surgery.  Surgery would be waste of time.  He said I need Chemotherapy to shrink the cancer to a manageable size to remove it.  He said at least 2-3 cycles of chemo would be necessary.  He also confirmed that if we get to surgery, it would be difficult surgery.  If stomach has to come out then he would have to move a section of small intestine up to do that role. 

Then we traveled immediately to Dr. Frederick Marquinez office in Akron.  After me getting undressed and completely all the paperwork, we found out that Dr. Marquinez was in his other office.  We quickly got dressed and rushed to his other office.  The staff there stayed past their closing time to accomodate.  Dr. Marquinez spent 2 hours with me examing and trying to tell me everything possible to prepare me for chemo and what to expect.  He said he will use two different chemo drugs in combination that attack the cancer cells from different angles.  The big problem is the chemo not only kills cancer cells but also good cells like white blood cells.  So, most likely I will have significant dips in my white count and be very weak.  May also be anemic.  He said usually this condition last no more than a week.  Then you get better and they hit you again with more chemo and the process starts all over.  Needless to say the chemo will not be any fun either.  I will be getting a MediPort put in, but not till right before the second cycle of chemo.  He does not want to delay the chemo waiting on the MediPort.  If you are not familiar with MediPorts, it is IV access that is surgically placed in your chest usually and that way you don;t have to get IV in arm everytime you go in. 

So, keep praying, please!  Heidi and I will be traveling to New Orleans to attend the Sugar Bowl (Ohio State and Arkansas) provided to us by the guys at the Fire Department.  All expenses paid!  We are so grateful for this.  The guys at the FD said this is a little getaway and then I will be ready to come back and kick the cancer's ass!  Thanks guys! (crying again)