Overview

For those wondering what's up, here's a brief review of events to date.  Jen started experiencing discomfort after a routine colonoscopy a couple of weeks ago and followup last week indicated a recurrence of cancer in her abdomen.  Consultations with her docs at USC Norris suggested a procedure that would remove the mass in her abdomen and treat her during the same procedure with heated chemotherapy, a process known as HIPEC.  The idea is to not only remove the macroscopic disease but to kill off the micro bad guys as well.  There's a few doctors/cancer centers in the country that perform it, but the best one and the one recommended to us by her doctors at USC is Dr. Paul Sugarbaker at the Washington Cancer Institute in Washington, D.C.

We arrived here late Sunday night, met with the doctor on Monday afternoon, and as I write this at 6:15 a.m., Jen is being prepped for surgery.  The surgery will take approximately 8 hours we have been told.  Jen and I are joined out here by Juilette, one of her sisters from NorCal.  Jennifer is in great spirits, was cracking jokes and actually skipping (!) on her way to surgery this morning.  BTW, did I mention that it's freezing here?  No, fellow Southern Californians, I didn't throw that out as we usually mean it, like, "Wow, it's down to 55 degrees!".  Jen and I ran for the hotel shuttle Sunday night in 25 degree temps and a wind gusting to 40 mph.  Last night's overnight low was 11.  Brrr!