3 years and hold the Mayo

Hopefully I don't sound angry but I just wrote an entire post that was lost. BOOOOO.

So today is my 3 year diagnosis anniversary. I was going to write 3 posts, but now I am cranky, tired and not into writing a bunch more so you get a post with lots of stuff in it!

When I left you last, OHSU docs said I needed surgery. Technically, there were two treatment options recommended, surgery or PRRT (targeted radiation). The question wasn't which one, it was which one first.

So we headed off to the Mayo Clinic in beautiful Rochester, MN, to get a second opinion. My second opinion doctor is a legend in the NETs space, much like my two Portland doctors. I am a very lucky guy, I have a literal all-star team.

Of course, the Mayo doctor (Dr. Thor Halfdanarson) recommended that I start with PRRT. At Mayo, they only recommend surgery if they can remove 90% of the disease (OHSU has a 70% threshold). Dr. Thor felt they couldn't remove 90% so suggested PRRT first.

I asked him to speak to my docs and they did (they all know each other and are friends) and they all agreed on PRRT. It's consistent with my "kick the can" strategy of always treating to buy myself more time before whatever comes next.

So, PRRT it is. Just waiting for the appointment.

But Rochester is interesting. 120k people, about half of whom work at Mayo and the other half service the employees and "tourists". I can't decide on a better metaphor and I am stuck between the Disneyland of healthcare (although it's not really happy of fun) or the Vatican City of healthcare. Either way, I am convinced that Rochester will be the nexus of the zombie apocalypse.

We did have some fun in MN too. I went to a conference, Krista toured Prince's house and museum, we went to a knitting store, found good restaurants, etc. We even threw axes for the first time!

So all in all, despite the not fun reason for going, we had fun exploring a new place and doing new things. We also learned a ton.

I did also get a second opinion from a urologist about my kidney and she made me feel much better. She shared a study that says if your tumor is 4cm or less, it only has a 1% chance of spread. Mine is in the 3s so that validated the decision to not deal with the kidney right now.

In any case, that's the update. Oh, and I will be skydiving again this weekend to mark my 3 years. Stay tuned!