The tortoise and the microwave

We met with the surgeon today to talk about what he thinks would be the best next step.  PDT has opened a lot of doors that weren't open in August.  Because of the lack of blood flow, radioablation, cryotherapy, and microwave ablation are now all options.  I've heard of exactly none of them when it came to treating non-dermal cancers.  The theory and application is actually very similar to PDT.  Ehh, similar, but different.

In my case, radioablation is too non-specific and cryotherapy works on too small an area.  Microwave ablation, however, I'm an excellent candidate.  Music to my ears!  He says it's the most controllable of the three and will be the most efficient procedure and recovery.   He said they can sometimes actually see the tumors shrinking during the procedure.  It's done in a CT with an interventional radiologist.  I asked him, since he's a surgeon, if he'd recommend surgery over anything else, and he said no, because it's too aggressive and unnecessary with these other options.  He didn't say no because of administrative protocol, he said no because he didn't think it's the best choice for me.  I was pleasantly surprised, yet again.  

There are now 3 tumors on my liver.  Down from 4, not to disregard that bit.  Because of their locations being fairly superficial on my liver (vs deeper inside nearer to the important bits), the treatment should be straight-forward and have very minimal risk for adverse effects.  Bagel bite can be treated at the same time.  The follow up would be to re-image in 2-3 months and they'd expect to see complete resolution.  Wild, huh?  A cancer-free Christmas?












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