This morning, Davide called me first thing to say that he is doing well and that he will have surgery around lunch time. Before that they will take the x-rays of his chest, spine and hind leg.
And that's when the bad news started... Davide called again just before lunch, saying that they took x-rays of the backend and they have found lesions in Dylan's tibia. He said that they weren't sure what it was, that it looks like cancer spread, but that soft tissue sarcoma doesn't spread to bones... I had to make a decision as to how to proceed, and agreed to do a scan of the abdomen next to see what is going on in there. Davide then called back and said that there wasn't anything to see there really as it all looked normal with the exception of the spleen which is slightly enlarged. They had taken as sample of it and sent it off to the lab.
The question then was what to do regarding the tumour in view of the new findings. This was one of the hardest decisions and some of the most stressful moments in my life as Dylan was on the operating table and I needed to decide whether to do a CAT scan (which I decided against) and wehther to go ahead with the surgery, knowing there might be more cancer in his body, or whether to cancel the surgery until we had further information. In the end after discussing it extensively with Davide (in of course a very short space of time), I decided to abandon the surgery for now and wake Dylan up. And that's what they did.
I was then able to go and pick him up at 3.30 pm. I was so tearful on my way there and really had to pull myself together making sure I didn't burst into tears when I arrived. After having a chat with Davide, and looking at the x-rays (we didn't have the results of the spleen sample yet), we decided to re-do the tests in three weeks time and see how it developed.
Davide said to get pain relief for him, but to check with Birgit as to compatibility with his supplements.
I have to say I am really impressed about the communication from Davide, I am kept in the loop all the time and feel really supported.
The silver lining in all this is that Dylan is in excellent general health and no spread of the cancer has been found in the places where it would be expected to spread to like bladder, prostate and lungs. The problem is where does that lesion come from... is it just a bone issue as such, or is there another primary source of cancer somewhere that has metastasized into the bone.
Dylan was a bit dozy when he got home as is to be expected. I gave him about half his normal food and he ate well and brightened up by the end of the evening.
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