I just recvd a call from my aunt.. my mom came to see an oncologist today and he did a rectal ultrasound... turns out the cancer was higher up than they thought and they are thinking that they will not have to do chemo/radiation BEFORE the surgery.. something about it not penetrating the abdomen??? I'm somewhat confused... she is on her way to have her PET scan. However, they have scheduled her for an endoscopy on Thurs and he said this would give him and better understanding of where the cancer was actually located. At this point she has had a the following: a colonostomy (collected a biopsy), a rectal ultrasound, a PET scan and now they are scheduling an endoscopy on Thurs.

Has anyone had similar test? Is this the end of the "testing" stage before they move on to treatment? I'm not really sure what the endoscopy test is and how what the results tell. Any insight would be greatly appreciated. I'm working on being patient as it seems like this is a long road, but it's hard being an hour and a half from home and trying to stay on top of all of this. Thanks for your help!