Today I met with Dr. Quinn to talk about the upcoming radiation treatments for my rectal cancer. We also got a clearer understanding of what's happening. The chemo treatments have stopped including Avastin as part of the treatment because liver surgery requires the Avastin to be out of my system in order to work properly. That coincided with a notice on my chart that I was scheduled for liver resection with ultrasound ablation mid-December. It's fascinating - that little bit of detail has helped with a lot of uncertainty. Sure, I knew that things might happen soon but having dates with clearly defined targets for what should happen where is helpful.

The radiation is designed to keep the rectal tumor in check while I don't have chemo. So that little piece of the puzzle is now more clearly defined (sorry for the mixed metaphor).

So in the coming weeks I'll start my radiation treatment. The simulation was pretty straightforward, with side effects that I'm already experiencing. So hopefully it'll just be business as usual.

It's nice to have a plan (even if that plan is subject to change, as is the case with anything medical). What's interesting is how much fear and stress this pulled out from this whole process. Having at least some idea of what should be happening is pretty liberating. (Note to self: perhaps there's something to this whole planning thing after all).

More to come as I know it.