Options? Few.

 After the doctor's visit on Thu, it seems like my options are few.

Chemo is really my only option right now. All other possible options require me to be free of chemo and "stable" for 2-6 months. At the aggressive growth rate of my current tumors, if I left them alone that long then they would probably easily  move to my lungs, and/or bones and/or brain. So I'm not going to leave them alone and will continue to attack them with chemo.

As for the other treatments, most I'm not eligible for anyway. I don't have liver cancer, which is what the liver radiation treatments are geared towards. I have esophageal cancer that has moved through my blood stream into my liver (and may continue on to other organs). So the "liver cancer" treatments aren't considered for my case. It is the pick a dandelion by the stem instead of the roots argument. With the cancer free in my blood, they cannot stop to pick the dandelion, because the roots will spread everywhere else. They have tried that in the past, and they have found that the deterioration of the patient tends to happen very quickly when the stop to treat the symptoms instead of the root cause of the tumors (like 3 months lifespan fast...). So they want to give me more time and are attempting to kill the root cause and will deal with the symptom (individual tumors) if given some breathing room later.

The only way they would stop the chemo to try something else would be if I was to become part of an experimental project, but they aren't aware of any projects for people in my unique position in Ontario right now. And then there is the fact I'd have to be off chemo and "stable" for months just like everything else.

So for now, I just have to hope that the chemo works, has an effect on the tumors that are visible (indicating that the chemo works for my "esophageal" type of cancer). Then with the tumors "under control" I may be a candidate for something else. But not unless that happens. If this chemo doesn't have an effect, then they have to try another chemo, because then I'm not under control and not stable enough for anything else. If the chemo doesn't work, then the tumors risk also becoming larger than they can do radio surgery on (something usually reserved for true liver cancer or colon cancer, so they aren't really considering it for me). Radio surgery has a limit of 3 cm tumor width as after that the dose of radiation gets too high (rises with size of tumor).

So... here's hoping the chemo works. Not much else to put my hopes on at the moment. Except my body learning how to fight the cancer itself... ya, not likely.

Having said that, I'm going to enjoy the gathering tonight with my family!

Shane