Waiting, waiting.

My DIL's last visit to MDA was not encouraging. The gyn/onc there says she's inoperable & should continue with a new revised chemo treatment to include Avastin. At only $5k to $10k per pop - which is not covered on their insurance policy, of course. My son gets the feeling that MDA wants to 'wash their hands' of this case because the outlook apparently is not promising. It might lower MDA's positive statistics. I had friends a few years ago - MDA wouldn't take the woman who had late stage breast cancer because they didn't think their treatment would be successful. Have any of you heard stories like these? Until now, I didn't know that a person actually has to have a referral to get in to MDA. You can't just show up & say, "Hey, I have a bad cancer & I want to be treated here."

They went to see Dr. T. on Monday, and he disagrees w/MDA's recommendations. He believes that surgery should be done sooner than later. And he has set up an appointment with a liver specialist today. Depending on what that doctor says, and  here, I'm a bit confused, Dr. T. has set up an appointment at the Mayo Clinic for next Monday. Dr. T. also runs some clinical trials. My DIL insisted on options, so for the moment, it appears there are options other than, "Okay, 3 more chemos and you're done." Which is what MDA basically said.

My son said he didn't know if he would go to Mayo. He works for himself, so one of the joys of that is there are no 'paid' sick leave days. If he doesn't work, he doesn't get paid. I told him I have one leftover 'free' ticket from Southwest, and for $50, he can use it. So maybe that will help some.

Friends of the family have been/are so overwhelmingly generous. One person has set up a 5k walk around Town Lake here in Austin August 8. Another friend has set up a fund @ Wells Fargo. People keep asking what they can do to help - If she does the Avastin, she'll need that help. Then again, Avastin may be out of the picture?

Thanks to you who have responded w/encouraging words. After the MDA report last week, I took Friday off and 'cocooned.' Stayed home & slept & did nothing. Monday I came to work, but after 2 hours, I realized I was totally useless, so I went home & took another nap. Tuesday things were better. Today? I wait to hear what the liver specialist says.