not good news

I really haven’t written much about my uncle here, I don’t think (kept that for friends-only posts on LJ) but since he’s discussed his case in a blog I guess I can too. I did mention that he visited us in the Netherlands last April; I doubt I mentioned at the time that they’d found a tumor on his adrenal gland. It’s adrenocortical cancer, rare and very aggressive. Three were confusing and contradictory go-rounds with a number of different doctors, but he finally ended up at the National Institute of Health, where they recommended going in and removing an astonising number of internal organs (a kidney, spleen, parts of pancreas, colon and possibly diaphragm too).

Then there were more opinions on whether that was too aggressive but the NIH doctor was convincing and is very experienced with this very rare disease. He decided to let them operate; the surgery was yesterday, and I checked my email first thing this morning to find a note from my mother saying that when they’d opened him up they’d found that the tumors had spread. They closed the incision back up and will send him home once he’d healed. The only thing left to try now is the experimental chemo. At least he’s got some top doctors, and because it’s the NIH this is all free.

The weirdest part of it all is that he still feels absolutely fine. Well, possibly not after the incision and anesthesia, but no symptoms at all from the cancer and hardly any from the chemo. But he lives alone, so we’re worried about what happens when/if things get worse.

I’ve written here about my uncle before, if not his cancer. He’s my only one. There’s me, Mom, Dad, my brother, and then nothing closer to me than second cousins. We’ve always been good friends as well as relatives. One of the hard parts for me today is being in a new job where I don’t have friends yet in a culture I don’t know wth a language barrier. I don’t really feel like this is something I can talk much about to anyone here, and as you might have surmised I deal with things by talking about them rather than by keeping silent.

I convinced him a blog might be cathartic as well as a good way to keep his friends updated, and set it up for him. My brother asked his friends on LJ to go comment there for support and I think that might be a good idea. If anyone should feel inclined to send good wishes to a stranger, you can do so here.