That could have been an email

July 2, 2026

11:25 am — My phone rings. "Hello, Mr. Craig. I'll meet you at the right door of reception 2," says the Champalimaud attendant. Tina and I meet him at the door for our 11:00 am appointment with the surgeon, and he escorts us to Doctor Cunha's office. "So you have completed all your tests." "Yes, I have." "Your EKG is fine, and you met with the nurse today?" "No, I met with her last week." "And your last chemotherapy was on 2 June?" "Yes, it was," Tina answers, and I confirm. He studies his…

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Both Sides of the Curtain

June 26, 2026

My latest MRI and CT came back clear. No visible cancer. But no visible cancer only means the machines can't see it — not that it's gone. We're moving ahead with cytoreductive surgery anyway. CRS is exactly what it sounds like: cutting the cancer out. Normally you do that when the scans light up and tell you where to go. Mine don't. So how does the surgery find what the imaging can't? First guess: cameras. Laparoscopy, a few ports, a screen. More likely they open me up — both sides of the…

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Better Than Expected

May 23, 2026

I received the radiologist's report from my recent MRI and CT, and it's better than expected. When I met with the CRS+HIPEC surgeon this week, he mentioned that two of the four lesions were no longer detectable. But the radiologist went further: complete imaging response. None of the nodules show up anymore — not the peri-hepatic implants near the liver, not the pelvic implants behind the sigmoid. Two scans, two modalities, same day, same conclusion. I'm ecstatic. I'm also cautiously…

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Nein Nine

May 19, 2026

Nein NineOr so I thought, as Tina and I drove to Champalimaud for the surgeon consultation. Last week I did the imaging — a CT and an MRI — and we'd been waiting on the read. My oncologist called at the end of the day yesterday. Five minutes. She was canceling chemo #9 because the tumors had shrunk, canceling our meeting, and leaving me with just the surgeon consult. I asked if she could email me the radiologist's report. Not complete yet. So I'd walk into the surgeon meeting without knowing…

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MSK Doesn't Do HIPEC

March 19, 2026

Memorial Sloan Kettering doesn't do HIPEC. Not for colorectal peritoneal metastases. After PRODIGE 7 was published in 2021, the surgical oncology world had to reckon with an uncomfortable finding: adding oxaliplatin-based HIPEC to CRS showed no survival benefit over CRS alone and was associated with more complications. Many centers continued to offer HIPEC anyway, citing different drug protocols or patient selection criteria. MSK moved toward Cytoreductive Surgery (CRS) combined with EPIC —…

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Seek & Destroy

March 11, 2026

Today is chemo #5, and I'm writing this from the chemo chair — poison pumping into my body like soldiers on a seek-and-destroy mission. Cue Metallica's aforementioned song if you want to enter my headspace. Wow, I sound like a douchebag. My high school self would punch me in the face just for using the word "aforementioned" — let alone using it alongside Metallica. I'm sure Kaiser will do me the honor next time we meet. First word that popped into my head. I'm sticking with it. Before treatment…

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We Don't Accept That Plan

March 7, 2026

The total poison load in my chemo cocktail was reduced last week. The heavy head feeling was better, but the fatigue dragged on longer than ever. I made it to meetings Monday morning, then tapped out and took Monday and Tuesday off. On Wednesday, I was still running on fumes, but I pushed through. In my good week, head clear, I'm back in CEO mode on my cancer journey. I continued researching CRS+HIPEC surgeons, and through a Facebook group — HIPEC Support Group — I found Dr. Armando Sardi at…

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$400,000 Surgery for $10,600?

March 3, 2026

Can a U.S. expat living abroad use ACA insurance to cover a $400,000+ cancer surgery? I'm a 50+ year-old U.S. citizen living in Portugal with a cancer diagnosis that requires CRS+HIPEC surgery — one of the most complex abdominal procedures performed anywhere. At a major academic cancer center in the United States, the uninsured cost runs $200,000–$400,000+. The goal: legally obtain U.S. health insurance through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) Marketplace, cap out-of-pocket costs at $10,600, and…

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Finding the Right Surgeon

March 2, 2026

Where I Am Right NowStage IV colorectal adenocarcinoma. The short version: diagnosed, completed 12 cycles of FOLFOX, recurred in the liver nine months later, reclassified as Stage IV. Now on FOLFIRI — with a measurable response. My latest MRI came back better than expected. The cancer deposits — subcapsular implants on the liver surface and two pelvic implants — have all shrunk significantly. One liver implant went from 28×21mm down to 15×3mm. That is not a rounding error. The chemotherapy is…

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