Meeting with my cancer team at Huntsman Cancer Institute. It feels a little weird meeting there when I don't have the results from the liver biopsy yet. My oncologist said she would call me with the results as soon as she heard, probably within a day or two of the biopsy. We had my cell phone out through the whole appointment hoping that we would get a call from her while we were there. Unfortunately we didn't. The meeting was really lengthy and involved. We received a ton of information and handouts, even a 3-ring binder with lots of information as well. They went over the information they had received from my oncologist at St. Mark's Hospital (Dr. Rhode) and went over the results as they saw them. One of the tests that I wasn't told the result of was a blood test called CA-125. This is a test for a specific marker in the blood that is consistent with ovarian cancer. The normal results are 35 and under, my number was over 5000... The medical team was pretty sure that I had cancer, but until the official results of the biopsy we would not move forward with any treatment. They discussed with us the clinical trial that they are currently conducting, but even without participating in the trial I would still have the option of receiving the same treatment. The trial basically consists of the patients being treated for ovarian cancer to be divided into two groups. The first group receives the standard chemo treatment every three weeks. The second group receives the same treatment, but one of the drugs is divided up and a third of the dose given each week, instead of all at once every three weeks. The study will monitor the side-effects experienced by the two groups to try and make a decision on which treatment is better overall, taking into account the quality of life and the effectiveness of the treatment in treating the cancer. Also as a part of this study you can opt to receive a third drug during your infusion which is an antibiotic to specifically target the blood supply to the cancerous tumors and kill them off and prevent them from forming. This drug is offered free of charge through this study and if the side-effects are too severe, you can choose to opt out of this at any time. They sent us home with all of the information and told us to call back with our decision after we get the results from the biopsy.

Another thing that they mentioned to us was the possibility of having a port-a-cath implanted in my chest so that I can have blood drawn through there and receive the chemo infusions through it instead of being poked in the arm each time. The weird part was that before they came in to talk to us DH was joking to me about possibly having something permanently installed in my arm so I wouldn't have to keep getting poked. They gave me a handout about it and talked about the advantages of it and that it is all under the skin so all you really see is a slightly raised circle where they would attach the needle each time (and you numb it up beforehand so you don't feel any of it).

All of this was somewhat overwhelming! They even gave me a catalog of hats, scarves and wigs to look through for when my hair falls out (typically 2-4 weeks after the first chemo treatment). The girls were quite interested in looking through the magazine to help me pick out a wig. The synthetic wigs are surprisingly cheap - only about $45 for a shoulder-length hairstyle. I really can't see myself wearing scarves, but there are some really cute hats in the magazine.