November 2020 update
Friends,
I keep waiting for a more definitive next step before sharing an update, but nothing about my situation appears to be definitive, so I'll just share the latest. I had a wonderful summer, and in my quarterly scans in September they found a 2 cm tumor on my liver. A biopsy revealed it to be a spread of my rectal cancer, and four weeks ago I had it removed with laparoscopic surgery at UCSF. I thought the surgery would be no big deal, but it ended up being pretty painful for a couple of weeks, and my abdomen still hurts, but not too bad. The good news is the docs believe they got it all out and didn't see anything else in the liver. And I'm back to almost full exercising :).
The September scans also showed the nodules in my lungs are slightly increased, and the docs continue to believe they are likely melanoma. However, the nodules remain too small to biopsy and they recommend watching rather than treating for now.
The debate now is what to do about the rectal cancer. Chemo has been ruled out for now as I already had a full treatment last year of the only cocktails that cures. The UCSF docs recommend being aggressive and doing more rectal surgery to remove any potential recurrence. The Stanford docs say there is no evidence of cancer at this time in the rectum and that it doesn't make sense for major surgery. They recommend careful monitoring with scans and exams every three months. So I've decided on the watching approach. I'll get more scans in December and then go from there on both the rectal and melanoma fronts.
My life will be a series of quarterly scans and decisions, making decisions one step at a time. In between, I've been fortunate to have lots of fun trips with friends and family to NJ, Maine, Michigan, Stinson Beach, Carmel, Pebble Beach, sailing in the SF Bay at 38 knots, etc. Thank you so much to my generous friends for making this possible! My boys come back from college next week, and I'll look forward to some fun with the whole family over the holidays. Then we'll see where January takes us!
Love,
Peter
Comments (10)
You are an amazingly strong and resilient human, Peter.
Also— continuing to pray for your long life and ease of health
Peter, thanks so much for this update as it's great to know where things stand with so much still unknown. I'm glad to hear you are on the mend from your surgery and sorry it was a tougher recovery than you expected. Hope we get to see the Forts over the holidays! xxo Vic
One step at a time Pete. We love you. Gene
Quarterly scans don’t seem to be cramping your wanderlust too much, Peter! Glad to hear about all the fun with family & friends & happy to have seen you on your Jersey stop. Atta way, my friend, keep on grabbing life by the balls!
Thanks for the update Peter. Glad to know you'll have the next month off from doctors. And thanks for going sailing with Dave. He needs crazy friends like you because there's NO WAY I'm going to sail at 38 knots!
God bless you Peter. Your work at BGCP is legendary!
Great to hear you'll all be together for Thanksgiving. Was the 38 knots on the boat or behind on a tube?
Thinking of you and your family often, Peter. Bummed we couldn’t make it out to SF this year, but it’s 100% on our list for 2021. Looking forward to another in-person hug!
Peter - good to see you are as strong and full of life as ever. Happy Thanksgiving!