I’m Nikki Gillingham, a good friend of Jessie’s from our days in NYC.

 

Jess has recently been very overwhelmed with the amount of doctor’s appointments, procedures and logistical planning around her treatment, so she’s asked that I send out this update.

 

While she had originally planned on relocating to NYC to be close to Sloan Kettering and the job at her NYC office, she felt, wisely, that a move cross-country was something to be left for a later time, once she’s healthy. She’s hopeful she will be able to make that move after chemotherapy.

 

As you may or may not know, in addition to the colon tumor the mass in her lung was malignant, and cancer was also found in her lymphatic system. This makes her diagnosis Stage IV Colon Cancer. The surgeons thought they got everything out at the time, and chemotherapy would still be in order to make sure her lymph nodes are clean. So they remain her primary oncologists and referred her to UCSF in SF for chemo.

 

Jessie arrived back to San Fransisco and met her new medical oncologist who she really likes ( the doctor in place to oversee chemo). They made plans to put in her chest port for chemotherapy, as their hope was/is to start the treatment on Monday Nov 25th. The process will last 6 months. The day before she went in for the procedure (which actually turned out to be more of a surgery) she received a call from her medical oncologist at Sloan. Unfortunately, the CT Scans they did in NYC showed multiple masses in her liver. While they are less than a centimeter in size, there are several. Colon cancer most commonly moves to the lung and liver so even though this is not good news, the cancer is acting as it typically can.

 

She had a subsequent MRI on her liver and the new oncologist feels that while she probably won’t need surgery right way, he still wants a liver surgeon’s eyes on the scans. The problem with this plan is, the surgeon is away and can’t meet with Jessie until the 27th of the month. Chemo cannot commence if she needs surgery before chemo. So she may need liver surgery to recover from BEFORE she can start treatment.

 

We all feel thrown and anxious regarding this development. When she had her scans done at Sloan in September there was nothing in her liver… 6 weeks later, there is.  She has been trading calls with the SK doctors all day as she wants them to look at the MRI and advise asap. Since her oncologist out there recommended no surgery, we are assuming he will say the same thing now. If they decide to postpone surgery and see if the chemo shrinks the liver masses, Jessie will start chemo on Monday, November 25. 

 

Her dad and step mom are with her now helping a lot, and I arrive there on Sunday night to spend the week and Thanksgiving with her. Her brother Adam and I are setting up a few systems so that if anyone wants and has the ability to lend a hand, in a variety of ways, they will be able to. I know everyone may feel somewhat helpless; especially those of you who are living thousands of miles away. Hopefully this will help.

 

I plan on having all of this set up by Wednesday. I will reach out immediately with details.

 

Thank you all for reading. Jessie sends her love and apologies for not returning calls or responding to text messages. She’s just incredibly overwhelmed at the moment and having a hard time keeping up with communications. She also wants to note that if anyone would like to stop receiving these updates for any reason at all she will warmly take them off.

 

That said, she’s in good spirits, she’s feeling strong and ready to hit this hard. 

 

As always, keep her in your thoughts and if you pray, keep her there too.

 

Sending everyone love and gratitude. Jessie is so lucky to have you all!

 

Warmly,

Nikki