Who makes these decisions? A tumor board? What's that?
A tumor board makes decisions on whether or not a chosen surgery is appropriate for each case. These are the best eyes and minds that deal with cancers everyday.
The best surgeons are board certified and consult with each other. I prefer to have a board certified surgeon instead of a doctor that will just do what I want and probably do a bad job while looking at money as their bottom line.
There will be a team working with me and on me. Not only the surgeon that will do the HIPEC but a GI specialist and a gynecologist oncologist surgeon. They will be removing my ovaries and uterus (if it's a go).
I'm fine with them getting rid of those parts since I am well past child bearing age. The less things in me that are vulnerable to cancer metastasis the better.
HIPEC is a long surgery. First they find and cut out any tumors that are present, then remove my lady parts, then use a heated chemo to wash the inside of my belly to hopefully kill any lingering cancer floaters. The GI surgeon will be on hand in case any of my remaining colon shows cancer in or on it.
It is a major surgery that can take up to 9 hours. As always, there is risk. I'm willing to take that risk. It does not guarantee that I will be cancer free nor does it guarantee that the cancer won't come back elsewhere. In my mind, the saving grace is that none of my lymph nodes have shown cancer.
Chemo rarely makes cancer die completely. It just gets people into a place where surgery becomes an option where it wasn't before.
Even if it buys me more time, it will be worth it.
