Hello Friends,
My Oncologist just called and he met with the conference team this morning to go over my scans. They have multiple professionals in their conference, including my radiation oncologist and the radiology specialist as well as other oncologists. There is confirmation of yesterday’s good news, as well as a need for further scans.
My blood work looks good. Liver and kidney functioning are good. It also shows that the tumor marker from yesterday’s draw is even lower, almost normal! It was 25. PTL. This is only one indicator, but since the tumor marker is dropping this is a good sign that the chemo is doing its job.
The bone scan continues to show “numerous areas” where there are lesions (e.g. spine, pelvis, skull, to name a few). He indicated the first scan was not as clear as they would like for it to be, so they aren’t sure if these are new lesions or if they were there and just didn’t show up on the scan the first time. With everything else looking so positive, the general consensus in the room is that the treatment is working. We will stay the course, and repeat scans after two more treatments (#5).
There was clearly more brightness on my cervical spine that raised some concern. (I had to ask, so in case you didn’t know, the cervical spine is at the base of the skull.) Again, he reiterated it may just be more clear on this scan, since it didn’t show up on the first scan. They don’t want to mess with this area, he said, as this can cause paralysis if left unchecked. He is ordering an MRI, which I will have on Friday along with the MRI of the liver. After that we will know whether I need to have radiation to blast the cancer in my neck.
Aside, I read an article about the “flare” response after the first set of chemo. Apparently this is fairly common response, where the bone scan will look worse from the first to second scan. There is a 75% chance that it is not progression of the disease, but we won’t know for sure until the repeat bone scan in six weeks.
So that’s the latest. I continue to trust in God. I know He can heal me and eradicate all the cancer from my body. He can do it miraculously, or through the work of the chemotherapy treatments. He can bring me to the point of NED so I can live a long and fulfilling life.
He can! But even if He doesn’t, I will continue to have faith in Him.
The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him (Psalm 28:7, NIV).