Friday, July 20, 2007 9:12 PM, CDT

Hello Everyone,
When I wait too long between posts I end up with two parts and tonight is no different:
Part I
Monday began round 10 and we got more information back about the CT scan.
Just to refresh your memory, when we’re in Worcester we see two doctors and a nurse practioner: Dr. Anwar is the Fellow, Dr. Walsh is the Attending and Christine Mikule is the Nurse Practioner.
Monday, we met with Dr. Anwar and Dr. Walsh. Dr. Anwar came into the examining room first and had a mediocre review of the CT scan. He was wishy washy and didn’t sound very encouraging. He was talking about treatments for quality of life versus achieving remission. I was devastated—almost immediately. I had a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach, I was anxious and tears immediately welled up in my eyes. I instantly thought of my kids and all the things I’ll miss if I can’t beat this thing. I haven’t been to that dark place since March 4th and 5th.
Then Dr. Anwar came back in the room and said that the scan itself looks better than the report reads. Basically a picture is worth a thousand words!! So he sounded more upbeat and showed us the scans and tried to explain to us what we’re looking at.
We felt better after the second meeting with Anwar. I got infused and then met with Dr. Walsh who couldn’t state enough how great the CT scan is and how much better it is than what the report of the scan suggests. He also showed us the scans and compared them to earlier scans. He thinks I’m responding quite dramatically.
Dr. Walsh told us that only 5-10% of people in my situation will achieve full remission and he estimates that I’m 75% of the way. So, I’m feeling pretty good.
I’m happy that the nausea has been quite limited in the last several rounds. The neuropathy is always there and the fatigue is back. The neuropathy may be what puts an end to the Oxaliplatin portion of the Folfox treatment I’m on. Two of my toes are numb and Dr Walsh will be watching me closely to see how the neuropathy progresses. According to Dr. Walsh, 12 rounds of Folfox are about the maximum a person can take before the toxicity becomes dangerous. I’m watching my feet and hoping that they hang in there for two more rounds and, if possible, a few more after that.
I’ll be going for a PET/CT scan for my next round of tests. It’s not scheduled yet but will be for some time in late August (my 12th round is scheduled for August 13 so it will probably be in the week after that). Dr. Walsh is not only interested in the size of my tumors but the activity inside them. The PET scan shows the cancer activity within tumors.
Just to let you know how much my tumors have shrunk:
Tumor on 1/24 Tumor on 7/8
Lung: 5.7 x 3.9 3.3 x 2.3
Mediastinum 7.1 x 2.5 5.4 x 1.6
My Dad likes to compare my current numbers to those that Dana Farber came up with. Their scan took place on March 2 and my tumors grew in the six weeks between scans. The lung tumor measured 6.4 x 5.3 and the mediastinum measured 7.6 x 2.8.