After my release from St. Joseph's, I spent about 2 weeks recovering from surgery at home before my first follow-up appointment. It was with my oncologist, Dr. Delmastro, here in Eau Claire. I had not seen him since before my surgery, and I was anxious to find out what the next step might be.
It felt so good to see his expression when he came into the room. He had a huge smile on his face, clenched his fist in the air and exclaimed, "You made it!!" I loved his enthusiasm and it made me feel like I had done something miraculous! He kept saying how good I looked.
After the initial moments of "atta girl" we got down to business. He went through all the findings from the surgery and explained that the cancer remaining showed primary cells of the Sarcomatoid variant. (The most aggressive of Renal Cell Carcinoma) Since this type of cancer has little response to chemo, or even radiation, he felt like my best hope would be to enter into a clinical trial.
He actually began searching on his lap top for a possible trial as we sat in the examination room. At first, he could not see anything within driving distance, so he began looking in the Baltimore, Maryland region. He knew that Janet was from that region and we had both lived there for several years. There was nothing that dealt with my type of RCC. As he searched, many trials were over seas: China, Germany, France. He finally ran across a trial that had just opened up at the Mayo Clinic, in Rochester, Minnesota. BINGO! (2 1/2 hours away)
He said he would first have to contact the head oncologist overseeing the trial to see if I would possibly qualify and I would also have to be 100% healed from the surgery.
Janet and I left the appointment with great hope. Dr. Delmastro said he would either call me, or have the oncologist from Mayo call within a week.
In the meantime, we traveled back to Marshfield on July 17th for a followup appointment with my surgeon, Dr. Wernberg. Her expression was similar to Dr. Delmastro's. She went out of her way to congratulate me on my speedy recovery.
It's funny, everyone was making such a deal about my recovery, yet I felt like it was taking forever! I had no energy, little appetite, and everything seemed like a big deal to accomplish. Even though Janet had kept telling me how great I was doing, I didn't feel like it.
It finally sunk in when Dr. Wernberg said, "Cindy, what you went through in that surgery was massive.
It's only been a little over 4 weeks. Believe me when I say, you are recovering in lightning speed!"
I told her about the trial Dr. Delmastro was looking into and her response was positive. She felt like within 2 weeks, I would be 100% capable of entering a trial.
It was shocking when she actually released me from her care that day. I thought I would have at least a couple more visits with her to make sure I was completely healed. I understood they were looking into further treatment for the existing cancer and I could not continue any treatment until I was released from her care. I guess I was having a hard time accepting the fact that I needed to move onto the next step right away.
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