I'm Not Dead Yet

On the way home from church today, Rob said to me, "I think that people think that I am close to dying. They seem surprised to see me walking around. They think that I should be on death's bed because the cancer is back."

I was talking to Elaine about it and she got the same feeling while talking to others. I was concerned that I said something in the blog, that he has one foot in the grave and the other is hanging perilously close to the edge. She assured me that I have not.

I know that recurrent cancer is not always a good thing, but seriously, he is not dead yet.

Dead men don't hike to Lake Katherine (or is it Catherine???) (three-hour round trip hike - uphill both ways! hehehe). We did this on Friday. He did, however, take a nice nap when we returned - but he did hike well.

To illustrate this, please read the the following quote from the immortal movie "Monty Python's Holy Grail:"

"The Dead Collector: Bring out yer dead. [a man puts a body on the cart]
Large Man with Dead Body: Here's one.
The Dead Collector: That'll be ninepence.
The Dead Body That Claims It Isn't (Rob): I'm not dead.
The Dead Collector: What?
Large Man with Dead Body: Nothing. There's your ninepence.
The Dead Body That Claims It Isn't: I'm not dead.
The Dead Collector: 'Ere, he says he's not dead.
Large Man with Dead Body: Yes he is.
The Dead Body That Claims It Isn't: I'm not.
The Dead Collector: He isn't.
Large Man with Dead Body: Well, he will be soon, he's very ill.
The Dead Body That Claims It Isn't: I'm getting better.
Large Man with Dead Body: No you're not, you'll be stone dead in a moment.
The Dead Collector: Well, I can't take him like that. It's against regulations.
The Dead Body That Claims It Isn't: I don't want to go on the cart.
Large Man with Dead Body: Oh, don't be such a baby.
The Dead Collector: I can't take him.
The Dead Body That Claims It Isn't: I feel fine.
Large Man with Dead Body: Oh, do me a favor.
The Dead Collector: I can't.
Large Man with Dead Body: Well, can you hang around for a couple of minutes? He won't be long.
The Dead Collector: I promised I'd be at the Robinsons'. They've lost nine today.
Large Man with Dead Body: Well, when's your next round?
The Dead Collector: Thursday.
The Dead Body That Claims It Isn't: I think I'll go for a walk.
Large Man with Dead Body: You're not fooling anyone, you know. Isn't there anything you could do?
The Dead Body That Claims It Isn't: I feel happy. I feel happy. [the Dead Collector glances up and down the street furtively, then silences the Body with his a whack of his club] (Rob has since banned all clubs in our home.)
Large Man with Dead Body: Ah, thank you very much.
The Dead Collector: Not at all. See you on Thursday.
Large Man with Dead Body: Right."

Surgery, again?

We met with Michael Collins (surgeon) tonight.

Unless he is convinced that surgery will add longevity to Rob's life or cure him, he will not do it. He feels as though there is no reason to put Rob through the surgery again.

When Dr. Collins performed surgery in January, he made sure that the margins were clean (the known cancer and its surrounding area was surgically removed).

He did give us some hope: he is not convinced that one of the spots is cancer - it could be some healing from the parietal lining that was removed in January. We like hearing good news.

The plan right now is to wait until the beginning of August for the X-ray and in September get a PET scan again. Hopefully, things won't have grown.

He suggested that we talk to Dr. Litton (oncologist) and see about the possibility of Tarceva (remember the post about the nasty rashes because of this targeted drug???). He thought that even though Rob's cancer did not show the markers needed to utilize this drug, ten percent of the time it will work.

Based on the kind of odds that Rob has shown during the last four years, he would have to be included in the ten percent. Doncha think?