Genetics and Radiation

The genetics appointment was very informative.  The geneticist drew a family tree and went over all my family genetics.  She is going to see if my insurance will cover doing a test called Next Generation Sequencing that will use 22 different genes related to colon, breast and ovarian cancer.  Hopefully my insurance will cover it.

The radiologist was also very informative.  He was able to give us some information on percentages related to how radiation would decrease recurrence.  It is actually more effective than I had thought but the benefits of having radiation are dependent on the location of where my cancer was.  He needs to meet with my surgeon to find out where exactly the lymph nodes were that were removed that were cancerous and also where exactly the tumor was.  If they decide that the location is in a place where they can do radiation it will reduce the chances of recurrence in the colon by 2/3.  They would also have me on an oral version of the chemo that I currently receive through the pump while I do radiation.  I am not excited about the fact that I for one, would have to do radiation at all (although it sounds like it might be a good idea now) but also not good news I would have to continue to be on chemo after i'm done with my infusions while I get the radiation.   This would all be after the lung surgery so the thoughts of radiation and more chemo afterward make my road seem pretty long and endless right now.
 
On another note, I saw this picture at the cancer center while I was there and found it amusing.