Seriously???

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrggggggggggggggggg!!!  Now that I have that off my chest.... 


This is getting more convoluted as the process wears on.  Terry met with the surgeon who is going to do his colonoscopy yesterday, and he put an entirely different spin on this than the oncologist has.  It's becoming more and more difficult to accept what we're told because it keeps changing.  I just want them to know without a doubt what we're dealing with, so we CAN deal with it.


This is what we thought we knew:  Terry has a total of three masses.  One in the prostate, one in the thyroid, and the mass that started it all, in the adrenal gland.  He met with the gastroenterologists last Tuesday, and they talked about the need to focus on the prostate, as the adrenal mass was determined to be non malignant.   When he met with the oncologist two days later, he confirmed that the prostate was the primary concern.  He would be referred to a urologist for follow up with a biopsy.  


So, he met with the surgeon yesterday, and he was VERY enlightening.  From HIS perspective, the immediate issue is the functioning adrenal gland tumor.  While it's not malignant, which is evidently why the oncologist wasn't concerned, it is functioning, and may be overproducing the hormones which may have led to the thyroid mass.  Lab results from blood work they did showed elevated levels of multiple hormones, so there is no question to the surgeon that the adrenal mass is functional.  I'm not sure why the gastroenterologists and the oncologists didn't catch it, but I'm thankful he did.  He was able to tie things together as no one else has.  The scary part, but he didn't seem to be concerned about, is the fact that Terry may legitimately have 3 different issues going on.


He believes the prostate cancer and the thyroid cancers are not related.  Meaning he does not believe the thyroid metastasized from the prostate, but is a separate cancer from the prostate.  I'm not sure at this point that I find it more reassuring than not that he might have multiple cancers at the same time, as well as a malfunctioning adrenal gland.  The ray of hope in all of this is that where the cancers have been located so far, the glands themselves can be removed.  They can remove the prostate, the thyroid, and the adrenal gland.  I would assume that potential and opportunity does not always present itself.  


I want to believe we are moving in the right direction, but can't shake the concern about the pain he's had for so long.  We've had lots of conversations lately, and he understands I do not want what we ultimately find to be a terminal condition for him, further reducing his life span.  But I do feel it's my responsibility as his wife to make sure they haven't missed anything.  Until they tell us they're 100% confident they've located and removed all cancers, and treated anything else that can be to make him feel as comfortable as possible, I'm not willing to back off and breathe any sighs of relief.  Trusting doctors has not worked very well for him in this particular situation, so until we're officially through this situation, I remain on high alert.


This morning was the biopsy on the thyroid.  In 3-5 days he should have results back.  We'll have a better idea then if the local surgeon has figured out what the other doctors and professionals have not.  All we want is answers and treatment.  That's not asking for much.  Is it??