This morning Scott had an internal ultrasound of his pancreas that revealed more about the newest tumor. It's small (1.5 cm x 1 cm) and right in the middle of the pancreas. The gastrointestinal doctor who did the procedure seems to think it's in a good location for surgery. We will see the surgeon Thursday to find out more.

Last week we met with the radiation oncologist. We discussed the possibility of radiating what's left of the tumor in Scott's chest. This will be a difficult decision as it is not expected to be curative and the risks are pretty great. The surgery was risky, but not doing the surgery was even riskier. So it was an easy decision. To have any benefit, the doses of radiation would have to be very high. And doing radiation so close to the heart can lead to really undesirable consequences such as heart attack or heart failure. So we have a big decision to make.

Before any plans are put in place regarding surgery or radiation we will see the Cedars Sinai oncologist. We have an appointment next week.

Since it's Lent, we have embraced an attitude of "giving up" worry. While it's not terribly easy to do this, we're also tired of living life under a constant threat of cancer and of what is to come. We're moving on with our lives and dealing with the cancer as we must. We're making plans again and looking forward to some upcoming weekend trips out of town and a spring break visit from Scott's sister and our nephew. We're also enjoying the warm, beautiful days of late. Well, Scott is enjoying the beautiful days. I'm mostly just sweating a lot while I sledgehammer the back patio. Scott has decided that now is a good time to take out the old concrete. He tried sledgehammering it himself (not a good idea after getting his chest opened up), then declared it seemed more like "women's work" and handed the heavy instrument to me. It turns out that hitting concrete over and over is pretty therapeutic. It sure is good to be alive!