The next step: University of Iowa

The Cancer Center at the University of Iowa is a very busy place!

We spent the day there, talking to the gynocologist/oncologist/surgeon, Dr. DeGeest. He said that it would be best to do surgery soon, he really can't say what the cancer is, possibly ovarian, however he's concerned that it may have attached on to small bowel, peritoneum, omentum or pancreas based on her fluid buildup and some other symptoms. To determine the type of cancer they need to open her up and look. They really can't get enough information from the CT scans or the Physical exam.

Some points of the cancer may not be removable. After her recovery, then chemotherapy. They were talking about doing surgery next Monday (April 6) or Tuesday (April 7), which was the earliest she could get in. The surgery will take 3-6 hours, and then about 5-6 days recovery.

After the visit with the gyn surgeon, she took care of the preoperative processes so she’ll be ready to go next week: did an EKG, visited with the anesthesia doctor, more paperwork, etc.

We also need to possibly look into skilled care after they discharge her from the hospital. Especially if they have to do a bowel resection in addition to taking out the uterus/ovaries and debulking (removing cancer).

Dr. DeGeest's office will call to confirm a day and time for next week.