Cancer's 5-Letter Word: CHEMO

We saw the endocrinologist today. Honestly, we were surprised by how much we learned. We expected to get some blood drawn and be told that she'd evaluate his hormone levels to see if they needed altering, and we would go on down the road. Instead, we got a big dose of reality.

Almost immediately, the doctor prescribed Cancer Drug #1: Mitotane. Mitotane is a pill form of chemo that specifically targets the adrenal glands. It's used in conjunction with regular chemo (or some other type of systemic cancer treatment), and it affects both cancerous and healthy cells. That means that both of Levi's adrenal glands will be affected, not just the cancerous one.

Adrenal glands mainly produce 4 hormones: aldosterone, testosterone, epinephrine, & cortisol. The cortisol, in particular, is responsible for maintaining many life-critical functions such as blood pressure, blood sugar, and metabolism. When Levi starts taking Mitotane, it will basically try to kill the adrenal glands, which will tank his hormone levels. Therefore, he will also have to take hydrocortisone to replace the mission-critical cortisol. After all this is over, he may have to take hormone replacements for the rest of his life, depending on the level of damage to his healthy remaining adrenal gland.

Tomorrow we meet with the oncologist to get a plan for the systemic treatment (likely regular chemo, according to the endocrinologist). The chemo + Mitotane will work to shrink Levi's very large tumor prior to surgery in order to ensure a more successful removal. We don't yet have an expected timeline for shrinkage and surgery, as it's dependent upon the cancer's responsiveness to treatment. We're hoping the oncologist can shed some additional light on a ballpark timeline.

Today's visit made all of this so much more real. There is a cancer drug that will be arriving in the mail by mid-week next week. We're about to launch into an even more difficult season, and there's no way to prepare ourselves. We're so glad to have such a great community of friends and family who guarantee we will not go through this alone.

We found ourselves in the eye of Tropical Storm Imelda today. How fitting. We weren't prepared for this literal storm, just as we aren't prepared for the coming storm of cancer treatment, so we had to find our way to CVS for emergency umbrellas.