And the Computer's Choice is...

Friday, April 6, 2012: Today, I received the news we've been waiting for all week. Jennifer from the Clinical Trial Department called (while I was sitting in the movie theater watching "Titanic" in 3D) and left me a message that I had qualified for the MORD Study, but I had been randomly selected to participate in the "Best Medical Practices" arm, which was the only one of the three arms that I did NOT want to do (it involved treatments first, perhaps surgery later). I called Jennifer when I got home and talked to her about this turn of events and that I was disappointed that I hadn't been chosen for one of the "surgery first" arms. She agreed, saying that she, too, wanted me to be able to have surgery first, since these tumors look to be completely "resectable", meaning that Dr. Scaife is certain she can remove them in their entirety and leave me NED - No Evidence of Disease. She asked me if I wanted to take the weekend to think things over and I told her that I'd been thinking about this for over a week now; I was ready to make decisions. "How do I move this forward if I definitely want to do surgery first?" I asked her. She replied, "You simply tell me that you want to withdraw from the study, and then you make an appointment with the surgeon." It was that easy. She said she would let Dr. Grossmann and team know of my decision and that they would be contacting me for a follow-up after my surgery. I called Dr. Scaife's nurse, Joanna, and left her a message that I was ready to schedule my surgery and if she could please arrange it, as soon as possible. Since it is Friday and I called about 4:00 PM, I'm hoping to hear back from her on Monday. At that point, the surgery date will be arranged, and we're all hoping it will be around the last week of April, if not sooner. I'm glad we know the outcome of the "computer's choice" and that I was given the option of accepting or declining participation in the trial. I feel at peace with this decision and was very encouraged by Jennifer's response, "I would do the same thing if I were you."

I feel the power of prayer. Even though the randomization was not what I had hoped, I feel that God has led me to this point and will continue to lead me along. I continue to pray for the simpler surgery, the shorter hospital stay, the quicker recovery. And if all the bad bugs would just disappear, I'd be one happy chicklet.

Happy Easter...

(Picture: Passey kids at Easter in 1978)