The End Of Illusion
Entry 8 The cancer is growing. One of her mets grew a full centimeter in a couple months. All of her mets have grown. Her CA 19-9 is at almost 26k. Dr. P told her the cancer is progressing. She will soon receive, as of August 12, Folfox for 8 weeks. During that time they will biopsy her liver to do genetic testing to see if any targeted therapy will work. The hardest part, the hardest most painful part of the day, came when we met with palliative care. They were taken aback that she thinks she can work full-time, out of the gate. She asked Dr. B., "Aren't there people who just go on living with tumors on their liver and live normal lives for a long time?" He took a deep breath, paused and said, "Not really." Then, they talked a bit about having a terminal disease, which is hard for Jenny to hear. But the social worker ratcheting it up after the palliative care doctor left, began discussing the fact that this will kill Jenny. At one point she tal...