Friday, October 31, 2008

Matt's Doctor Appointment

Yesterday Matt left the house and voted. Also today he had his doctor appointment with Dr. Eastman in Johnson Creek. He is a medical onocologist from UW Health Systems-Madison. After the consultation, there is a course of action tentatively set. Things could always change. Beginning Monday, November 10 Matt will begin chemotherapy treatments at J. Creek. These should last about 3 months. After one more month, if everything goes as planned, Matt will go for a second, more major surgery to remove any cancer that remains. After getting recommendations from his surgeon, Dr. Stoddard, and Dr. Eastman we got in touch with a Dr. Paul Sugarbaker from Washinton D.C. He has his own clinic there and is a well known guru regarding this type of cancer surgery/treatment. It is actually described on his websight http://www.surgicaloncology.com/. After speaking with his office, we sent them all Matt's paperwork. They said Matt could be a candidate for this type of treatment. They also gave us a recommendation for systemic chemotherapy as soon as he is able, (which we will be doing) and that there is light at the end of the tunnel. We were happy that someone was so experienced and knowledgable about mucinous adenocarcinoma (30 yrs). They gave us three websites to gain more information. One of the websites listed 32 doctors at 27 hospitals(25 in US, 2 in Canada) that are experienced with this cancer. We began contacting them, and will continue on Mon. & Tues. They are scattered all over the country, more details to follow, but none in Wisconsin. It was nice to hear various success stories and miracles these surgeons had experienced. One said it was not age sensitive, in other words she had seen it in teens to age 85. One said it is kind of an orphan disease, a form of colorectal cancer, it sits on surfaces of organs and produces mucious. It also seems that every doctor seems to know of the other doctors on the list, and there experiences are shared through research which most of them do. So Matt could join that research soon!

Matt would like to thank everyone for their love, concern and especially prayers.
His trust is in the Lord!

2 comments:

Becky Boettcher (Lange) said...

I hope that out of all of those doctors you can find one that will be able to get matt back to 100%. Good luck I can't wait to find out his continuing progress

Jack Schlotthauer said...

Yo! Matt;
I talked to Casey this morning and learned that CONGRATS are in order. I think it great that you shall be an official nephew in the near future and admire your taste in women. It's great that you are planning for your future as I'm sure you will have a long and happy one. God bless.....Uncle (the graet) Jack