Hi All -

This blog was created to keep everyone abreast of the latest situation with The Juan. Posts will come from both Amanda and Juan, and we'll try to update it whenever any new information is available.

The doctors have performed a battery of scans and so far we know:
-- The MRI showed no cancer in the brain
-- The PET seemed to indicate no major metastasis

Hopefully this means that the cancer is isolated to the single tumor in the stomach. However, this news was tempered by the fact that the PET scan also showed that the tumor was next to the pancreas. We (including the doctors) do not yet know if the tumor is simply next to the pancreas, or whether it has invaded that organ as well.

Juan goes in for a laparascopy on Thursday, February 19th. This surgery will not remove the tumor, but instead explore whether there are small "droplets" of metastasis that the PET scans could not detect. During this surgery they will also insert a feeding tube (see more below). He should be home either that same evening or on Friday.

He'll be given ~2 weeks to recover before chemo and radiation begin. In the case of stomach cancer, these treatments can make it very difficult to eat enough food to nutritionally maintain the body...hence the feeding tube. Chemo and radiation should last about 6-8 weeks. Then, if the tumor has not metastasized, the hope is that it will have shrunk and might be removed surgically.

Thank you to everyone for your warm thoughts (and generous food donations).