Barry,

I’m sorry the news doesn’t look too good at this point. I find that sometimes it is the not-knowing that is the harder to deal with.

John’s experience made me really appreciate the Canadian health system, despite the fact that many people complain. We always got the feeling that the doctors were looking out for us and once there’s a diagnosis, there’s no delay, everything was dealt with as soon as possible. The experience has taught me never to complain about the high taxes we have to pay. I believe we got back more than we ever paid out in taxes through John’s cancer treatment.

There are really skilled doctors doing the biopsies. John had two lung biopsies because his metastases were in the lungs. The doctor said it was like poking a needle into a balloon without it bursting. Both times went off without a hitch. He was up and ready to go home in a couple of hours. He was given some freezing and he was able to ask for more if during the procedure he felt pain.

Maybe you would also like to inquire about immunotherapy if the results do turn out to be positive. John was in a phase 1 immunotherapy trial (prior to that, the drug had only been given to monkeys). Our MO at the time was full of optimism about immunotherapy and felt there’s a lot of potential down the road. It’s been about five years since so maybe they have made big strides or some other new drug or treatment is now available. It’s for this reason that I buy the Princess Margaret Hospital lottery ticket every year because the proceeds go into cancer research. Don’t give up hope.

Please let me know how you’re doing. I’m here and when you or your wife are ready, pm me.