On January 4th, almost two months into Dad's diagnosis, we met with the Oncologist (Dr. K).

Dr. K laid out the following options:

1) Surgery - Remove the lower right lobe of Dad's lung, which is where the 4 cancerous spots are located. The spots found during his first diagnosis were in his middle right lobe, which was removed almost 2 years ago. 

+ Pros:
* With the removal of this part of the lung, you know that the cancer has been fully removed from the lung (testing after surgery would ensure this was the case and that there was no spreading to the lymph nodes)
* Good success rate 

- Cons: 
* It is surgery and no one likes surgery 
* Recovery will be a little bit longer and more painful than the first time due to scar tissue from the previous surgery

2) Targeted Immunotherapy Drugs - They target the 4 cancerous areas with a drug and could be in a pill form.  

+Pros: 
* No surgery
* Fairly good success rate 

- Cons: 
* This does not guarantee the elimination of cancer in the lung. It may only keep the cancer from spreading 
* He would take these drugs for years and quite possibly for the rest of his life 
* These drugs, before insurance takes effect, can cost $10K a month! 

While Dr. K could not tell us what to do, he presented us with all of the information so that Dad could make the best decision for his course of treatment.

During the meeting, this is what we gathered:
- He has two options. Many people diagnosed with lung cancer don't have any options, let alone two!  
- Despite having cancer, Dad is a fairly healthy 65 year old who responded quite well to surgery the first time around
- In this case, surgery is the closest we can get to the elimination of cancer in his right lung
- There is nothing to guarantee that Dad will not get lung cancer again; especially since he has had a recurrence within a 2 year period. We don't know when or if that will happen but IF it were to happen, we don't know what age he will be or what kind of health he will be in. At that point, surgery may not be an option for him.

While Dad went into the meeting adamant that he would not undergo surgery, he left the meeting believing that surgery is the best option for him. 

Two weeks later we met with his thoracic surgeon, Dr. Henry, to discuss the surgical option. Barring that all of his breathing and heart tests come back good (which they had previously), Dr. Henry believed that surgery would be a great option for him. He spent time explaining how he was going to conduct the surgery and what the recovery may be like. There was also a discussion about other types of treatment, after surgery, because of the quick recurrence. There was not much detail other than that it was a conversation that him and Dr. K would probably be having in the future. 

On Wednesday February 13th, Dad will undergo surgery for the removal or his lower right lobe. 

We will post more updates as we have them.  Thank you again for all of your thoughts, prayers, and well wishes.

In the meantime.... We have started a fundraiser through the Lung Cancer Research Foundation and we have a post with a link, if you would like to make a donation. We are also looking to have some other events down the road. 

- Alicyn and Marisa