Post OP- Duarte

 5.16.25
Mike and I headed up to Duarte for my first post OP appointment with Dr. Melstrom since being discharged. The appointment went great! We reviewed the pathology from the surgery and everyone was very pleased with the report. Dr. Melstrom also showed us images of my liver from before chemo and after the resection. It was incredible to be able to see what was removed and what was done during surgery. 

The image on the left is an MRI before I started chemo. Some of the black spots in the circled areas are the tumors. The image on the right is a CT scan of my liver after the resection surgery and removal of my gallbladder. The cursor arrow is pointing to the spot where 1 tumor was abladed and you can see the bottom portion of my liver that was removed. As mentioned previously- I had an MRI before surgery and the liver tumors were unmeasurable. Although unmeasurable and undetectable to the eye- we are so thankful that we still went through with surgery because the lab was indeed able to see two of the tumors from the resected portion and they showed 5- 10% viable. So, I am so happy they chose to resect that area and those are now out. Dr Melstrom is pretty confident that any of the other lesions that were not accounted for were shrunk down to non existent from the chemo. 

Dr. Melstrom said the liver will take about 6 weeks to regenerate and regain its normal function. Now that surgery is behind me, it is time for cleanup chemo. We will continue with the plan to direct chemo directly to the liver (using the pump) and kill off any viable cancer that could potentially be in the liver or my bloodstream (using my port).