Next steps...

First of all, there has been a slight change in plans for tomorrow. The luncheon following the funeral will no longer be at Vittorio's. It will now be held at the Millrose Inn - 45 Barrington Rd, South Barrington.

During the past few days, I have been busy sorting through photos, making arrangements, ordering flowers, writing a eulogy, etc... Once the funeral is behind me, I need to start making plans for my trip to MD Anderson in Houston. I will go down there on November 8th and my surgery will be on the 11th. I strongly weighed the decision of which doctor I was most confident having perform my surgery. I decided that if both of them were in the chicago area, I would choose Dr. McCutcheon hands down. While I wish I could be done locally, I feel that the most positive outcome far outweighs the inconvenience of geography. After speaking with both surgeons for about another hour each, I feel confident in my choice to pursue MD Anderson. Dr. McCutcheon makes the surgery sound so simple, like I am having my appendix removed.

Regarding the urgency of the surgery, he told me I could wait another month. However, now that my brother has passed on, I feel it best just to get this over with, so hopefully, I can enjoy my holidays. He told me to expect to stay two weeks in the hospital and that I should be able to fly home the day before Thanksgiving. He said they would start rehab & physical therapy there. He'll also take out the staples and do an additional scan, to make sure I am safe to fly home. He feels I can then follow up with my surgeon here at home. I will then go back to see him about six weeks post-op, before starting the chemo. I'll get all my baseline scans done while I am there (sometime in January).

It may be hard for you to believe, as so many horrible things have happened in this past month (on top of my brother, both of my children have been really sick), but we received more bad news on Thursday. We called Steve's parents with news regarding my brother & found out that his father had a mild heart attack on Tuesday and was in the hospital. They hadn't wanted to bother us with the news. He remains in the hospital with plans for angioplasty on Tuesday, October 27th. We spoke with him this morning. He no longer has chest pain and feels that he could have gone home these few days before his procedure. Add him to the prayer list.

Once again, another thank you to everyone for the outpouring of support...