Dearest family of friends,
Our Christmas was joyous with calls from Aspen and Houston(John's group) and Istanbul, Washington, California etc. from Jackie's family. Our house was filled with the patter of little feet twice as Jane, Jackie's eldest, arrived Christmas night with her two darling little boys, 3 & 4. They returned from southern Fl. only to spend an extra 4 days while Jane recovered from all sorts of cold conplications. Gave Jackie more time with her family which she always enjoys. The little boys lighted up everytime they spotted Papa John, who was the chief reader. He was also a terrific sitter-no diapers involved when Jackie had to go out.
John and I made another trip to Houston's MD Anderson the first week in January for the week. The optimism that we had enjoyed since our last visit quickly changed to sadness.
Earlier, John's cancer had been diagnosed as a neuroendrocrine turmor. But he had a biopsy in December that showed he had a metastic melanoma of the pancreas. This surprised us as we had always thought of melanoma as a skin cancer and not internal. In fact, John had a Level 3 melanoma on his shoulder more than 20 years ago. The doctors at Anderson think that the two cancers may be related.
John has been examined by several different specialists. The latest, Dr. Papadopoulous, is Anderson's leading melanoma doctor. He spent more than 1 1/2 hours with us on our first visit and explained the cancer and all the possible treatments. He was surprised in examining John's abdomen that he had no pain despite the fact that his cancer is quite larde -2 1/2" x 1 1/2". The doctor showed us the MRI pictures of the pancreas, comparing the size of the cancer from the original MRI in September to the most recent. It had increased in size minimally, only 1 mm.
Dr. Papa explained four chemo treatments that might be considered for John, but all of them have potentially serious side effects and/or would be debilitating for a person of John's age and health problems. Surgery seems the only feasible treatment, but, of course, that has high risks too. Dr. P. is submitting John's case to the Anderson Council of Surgeons to determine whether surgery is advisable. If not, John will have an MRI every few months to monitor the growth of the cancer.
John also had a lengthy test, PET scan, which was to show if the melanoma had spread. Unfortunately, the results had not come in late Friday when we saw the doctor. We will hear the results this week.
Actually, the peripheral neuropathy is bothering John a lot more than the cancer. In spite of it all, he remains in pretty good spirits while we wait for a report from the Council.
On the bright side, John and I have had a lot of good time together. We haven't been on a vacation in over 2 years as it is just too difficult for John to get around. We have maximized our time in Houston eating in ethnic restaurants, meeting family and friends.
So, if Houston is on your bucket list-just ask us!!!
We thank all of you who have come up to us, called us, written notes, emails, sent cards and food-John has no trouble eating-he just doesn't have a very big appetite, but this has been since his open heart surgery a couple of years ago.
Please feel free to call or let's go out for lunch or dinner. Let's keep on living.............
With love and GREAT appreciation for all you have done for us thru your thots and prayers; please keep them coming,
Jackie and John
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