Bob Wolcott

First post: Apr 10, 2012 Latest post: Mar 7, 2017
Welcome to our CaringBridge website for Bob Wolcott. We've created it to keep friends and family updated about the illness and treatment of his Metastatic mucinous adenocarcinoma, which is an abdominal cancer. On Wednesday, April 11th, Bob will be operated on by Dr. Andrew Lowy at the UCSD Medical Center. Dr. Lowy is a renowned surgeon, who substantiated a treatment called Heated Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy, or HIPEC. A heated solution will be injected into Bob for 90 minutes, attempting to kill the deepest cells remaining after the tumor has been removed. This is a place where we can update every one of you on the progress Bob is making, as well as a medium for fielding any questions you might have.



So...what about Bob? In late 2007, Bob had his appendix removed. When doctors did a biopsy of the appendix after the surgery, they found that it had cancer. Bob went under the knife again to see if it had spread anywhere else, but doctors didn't find any sign of cancer elsewhere, so he was patched back up and sent home.
In February of this year, Bob went back to the doctor for some stomach pain. He thought it may have been a kidney stone, but he received a much different diagnosis: the cancer was back. He was diagnosed with metastatic mucinous adenocarcinoma of the omentum, which is an apron of fat that covers the abdominal area.
After being told that surgery and chemotherapy wouldn't be very effective, Bob was able to find someone who specialized in his type of cancer. Doctor Andrew Lowy helped to pioneer heated intraperitoneal chemotherapy (also known as HIPEC). Basically, Dr. Lowy opens the abdomen and removes all visible tumors, along with the fat apron itself. Bob jokes that he's one of the only guys in the world who's tricked the insurance company into paying for some liposuction. Once the tumors and omentum are out, Dr. Lowy then fills the abdominal cavity with cancer killing drugs, and sloshes them around for 90 minutes. The drugs are heated to 108 degrees, so the treatment has earned the moniker "shake and bake."
Dr. Lowy says that Bob is the perfect candidate for the operation. He's good enough, he's smart enough, and doggonit, people like him.
Bob is set to start the 10 hour shake and bake process on Wednesday, April 11th at 8:30. After it's done, he'll stay at the hospital for about 3 weeks, then head home. He hopes to be back on the golf course by early summer, and he'll be looking for strokes.

To learn more about the shake and bake, check out these articles:
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-57336043/controversial-cancer-fighter-hot-chemo-baths/#comments

(http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/12/business/heated-chemotherapy-bath-may-be-only-hope-for-some-cancer-patients.html?_r=1)Dr. Lowy's UCSD profile:
http://cancer.ucsd.edu/treatments/heated-intraperitoneal-chemotherapy/Pages/lowy-andrew.aspx

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