Hi Everyone -
Sorry for the delay in updating my situation. I have been working on some things I can report on later. But for now I will do my best to fill you in on my visit with Dr. Dechet on Thursday.
To be honest, it went much better then I had anticipated. I spent a lot of time with his intern and she spent a lot of time answering my questions. And then Dr. Dechet came in and he answered my questions and also talked to me about the surgery and other matters. First, my CT scan came back with good. There was no sign that the cancer has spread. That greatly enhances my chance of survival. He talked about the surgery and what to expect. He finally tried to answer my question concerning the number of neo bladders he has constructed. He admitted that because Utah is not a big cancer state, most of his bladder cancer patients are older and not candidates for neo bladders. He could only give me rough estimates. He said he maybe does 25-50 radical cystectomies and year. And that maybe 1/3 of those involve a neo bladder diversion. So based on his years at Huntsman, he may have done over 200 neo's. He admitted that although he is the most experienced in the intermountain west, there are doctors on the east and west coast who have done many more. We also discussed how long you could wait after chemo to have surgery before the cancer has a chance to progress. He said you should wait no longer then 3 months. I asked who is person who schedules the surgery and he said I am. I said the although I would like to put this off for several years, that I would set a date for my surgery today. He told me to talk with his assistant.
Overall, I must admit that I left our meeting much more confident about the abilities of Dr. Dechet to perform my surgery. And I think I would be comfortable to have my surgery done at the Huntsman. But I admit that I still have a voice in the back of my head that tells me that I should get a second opinion from one of the doctors of USC. So I have been spending my time getting information so I can travel there and accomplish all that needs to be done in a day. And I think that tomorrow I will be ready to call out there and try and make an appointment with Dr. Daneshmand. I realize that getting a more experienced surgeon does not guarantee a better outcome. And I realize going out of state adds more logistical problems to the procedure, but I feel I owe it to myself to get that 2nd opinion and to see how the cards play out.
In the mean time I will keep doing my kiegel exercises and getting my strength up for the surgery. Which for now is scheduled for Aug. 25 at the Huntsman. OH BOY!!!!!!
Wishing you the best - Good night.
