Mark Stickhost

After a few months of having some symptoms, Mark was seen by a local GI who ordered a colonoscopy. On December 27th, 2019, we were informed they found a rectal tumor during the scope. On December 30th, pathology revealed that is was a poorly differentiated invasive adenocarcinoma. On the 31st, he had a CT scan to check for any other lesions. The CT didn’t pick up anything except for one small spot on the liver that was likely to be a hematoma. Additional testing was done on January 6th, 2020 to stage the cancer and provide a road map for doctors. At this point, he was staged as T3N2M0, which basically means stage 3c rectal cancer. The following week, we made the trek to Mayo and met with their entire team. The oncologist insisted on a liver MRI, which was done locally. Shortly after, his port was placed and chemo began. The local reading of the MRI indicated 3 liver lesions. However, Mayo read the same imaging and found 10-12 lesions. The oncologist was not very encouraged and ultimately told us surgery likely wasn’t an option for any of it but he would consult with the liver surgeon we were slated to see. The liver surgeon agreed to meet with us and was willing to be aggressive.
So after 6 rounds of chemo, which were well tolerated in the grand scheme of things, Mark underwent a portal vein embolization, which severely limits blood supply to the right lobe of the liver. This was done in an effort to increase the size of the left lobe in order to compensate when the right is removed and not lead to liver failure.
On May 22nd, Mark is undergoing surgery to remove the right lobe and one lesion in the left.