Today was very encouraging for Donnie and for me.  We went to see Dr. Sebastian de la Fuente at Florida Hospital Orlando (South) for a consult for possible laparoscopic surgery.  Initially, we saw 2 surgical fellows (surgeons that are undergoing specialty training in pancreatic surgery) and a senior surgical resident.  They evaluated Donnie, asked lots of questions, answered our questions, and then went out of our exam room and spoke with Dr. de la Fuente. Then all four of them came back into the exam room . . . we felt quite honored to have this group of specialists discussing our case with us.  They had ALL been present during Dr. Zehngebot’s presentation of Donnie’s case to the tumor board on Tuesday (they are part of the tumor board).

Dr. de la Fuente feels due to Donnie’s excellent response to chemo (Gemzar and Abraxane), his minimal side effects, his improvement in many facets of his health (gaining weight, needing no pain meds, having no nausea, improving energy level, etc.), that he is an excellent candidate for removing his pancreatic tumor.  He stated if it was him, he would definitely be having this done (the magic words for me!).  He also stated, after reviewing all of Donnie’s CT scans, there is a low probability that Donnie has metastatic disease.  This is the very first time any of his physicians have stated this.  Of course, the confirmation of whether he has metastatic disease or not will happen during the laparoscopy.

During the procedure, Dr. de la Fuente will biopsy sites that look suspicious.  If there is metastatic disease, he will not perform surgery.   If only the pancreas is involved, he will remove the pancreas and the spleen, and any involved lymph nodes.  There is a possibility if the surgery cannot be done laparoscopically, he might have to perform open surgery.  Abdominal surgery of this type is a big surgery, whether done laparoscopically or open, so he will be hospitalized for at least 7 days.

Dr. de la Fuente and his partner do more surgery of this kind than anyone in the state of Florida . . . more than Shands and more than Miami.  His staff is amazing, and he has a wonderful, warm bedside manner.  I’m telling you, God has been so good to us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, this means no more chemo for now.  Time to get as strong as possible by eating well and exercising, walking, riding, etc., until surgery day.  He weighed 176 pounds at the surgeon’s office today.  He weighed 180 pounds at the start of December before his diagnosis, so he’s almost back there 🙂

After some recovery time, it will be determined if Donnie receives chemo again or not.  We won’t really know until we see the findings from the surgery.  His surgery will be performed at Florida Hospital South . . . of course, you know we are both pleased about that!!

Please pray for Donnie to gain strength for this surgery.  Please pray for his surgeon and caregivers, that they will make excellent decisions in Donnie’s care. We are beyond grateful to God for the amazing doctors and caregivers that have been brought to us during this journey, and the answers to prayers through our precious family and friends that are SO MANY they cannot be counted.

Psalm 139:17-18:  How precious are your thoughts about me, O God.  They cannot be numbered!  I can’t even count them!  They outnumber the grains of sand!  And when I wake up, you are still with me!

We are praising God for Donnie’s continued improvement and opportunities, and we are grateful to our prayer warriors that continue to lift Donnie up to God.

Much love,  Donnie & Tina