Ray was able to wing an earlier appointment with the oncologist, which we attended on Friday 20th. We also met with the oncology dietician an hour earlier. She was extremely helpful, affirmed our diet and encouraged Ray to keep eating a full range of foods. He has dropped some weight since Christmas (a lot of it probably due to post operation – not to mention stress) and ideally needs to put back on a few kilos.
More importantly the oncologist (Dr Mark Warren) turned out to be the son of a Churches of Christ Minister (George Warren) who mentored Ray when he was doing youth ministry at Hartwell, Camberwell & Balwyn in the late 1980’s. I felt extremely comforted by this and couldn’t help feeling a sense of mystery and wonder – even though what we had to discuss was far from wonderful – the various options for chemo therapy etc.
A positive, for the moment, seems to be that Ray is ‘a-symptomatic’. Dr Warren has never had a patient who has presented with Ray’s type of cancer and not displayed symptoms. While this is unusual, those of us who know Ray well know that he is never ‘typical’.
As a result, Dr Warren is postponing chemo treatment for the moment. Ray will have another scan in a couple of weeks time to see whether the liver lesions have grown and possibly a decision about whether to start chemo treatment will be made then.
Another period of waiting and praying in this long journey of waiting and praying.
Please know that the care, love, best wishes and prayers you all have been sending our way are lovingly reciprocated.
Marg