Pausing the plan: a personal call from Dr. Olopade and a consult with Dr. Shergill

A lot has shifted since my last update.

The results from my liver biopsy are in, and several of my doctors have been quietly conferring now that there is more information on the table. The biggest development: Dr. Olopade from the University of Chicago called me personally. We talked, and together we've arranged a consultation this Wednesday with Dr. Ardaman Shergill — a specialist in exactly the kind of GI cancers I'm facing.

So here's what changes: instead of getting my port placed and starting full FOLFOX on Wednesday as planned, I'm going to keep that day for the consult with Dr. Shergill. I want to walk into this intense chemo journey with as much information as humanly possible, and meeting with a specialist of her caliber before I start feels like the right call. It means disrupting a plan that was already in motion, which is hard — but I'd rather pause for a week than wonder later if I should have.

The timing is also a gift in disguise. My daughter Gina is flying in from Austin on Saturday. Starting chemo the following week means she can be with me for that first infusion, and that matters more to me than I can say.

I'm not going to pretend the last couple of days have been easy. I've been sleeping a lot. The pain from my inflamed liver and abdomen has been real, and I've been working with my team to manage it. My body is asking for rest and I'm trying to listen.

And then there's you. I have been absolutely overwhelmed — in the best possible way — by the messages people have been sending through this site. I'm planning to write some individual posts to thank specific people who have already gone so far above and beyond to encourage me and make me comfortable. I want to name names, because every single one has landed.

It is not lost on me that I have a village. A genuine, real, showing-up village. I am going to lean on it, and I am so grateful.

More soon. — GoGo