Thanks to everyone who voted! We really appreciate your support.
With cancer, it seems like nothing ever happens the way you expect it to, or even how the doctors think it will happen.
A week ago Tuesday, we were told we had 3 options.
Today, we found out about OPTION 4 when we saw the doctor. The good news is that we did not get bad news today.
The radiologist got two really good samples of the node in question on Monday, and neither sample showed any sign of cancer. Yay. That is good news. Both samples showed lots of scar tissue, which is good because scar tissue is not cancer. However, scar tissue would not cause a PET scan to light up like the one on Dec. 27th did. The possibilities are:
– Cancer is in the node but was deeper than could be safely biopsied. This seems unlikely because the whole node was bright on PET scan, not just one part.
– There is inflammation in the node, but again it was missed somehow. Also unlikely for same reason.
– There was something there, but the last chemo knocked it out. Umm. Really unlikely.
– There was something there, but all your praying and ‘voting’ knocked it plumb out. We think we are onto something with this one…
This brings us to OPTION 4: Wait 2 months, do another PET scan, and see if that node is less active. If it’s less active, that’s good news. If it’s the same or more active, that’s bad news, and we do a mediastinoscopy to see what’s going on.
We considered Option 3, but the diagnostic quality of the tissue samples makes it unlikely that something is hiding. More importantly, even if we do a mediastinoscopy right away, I have to finish healing (which could take 2 months) before I can receive high-dose chemotherapy. So, it seems like the best alternative is to be patient, wait 2 months, and then check with a PET scan to see if things are better or worse. By that time the rest of me should be sorted out, and we will be better prepared to deal with things.
Eventually we’re going to get to Option 1. That’s a fact. Right now we’re going to wait and see, and enjoy life without doctors appts or treatments, and make use of all my brand new neutrophils.
We’re hoping to go backpacking again this weekend – 16-18 miles in the Smokies. It’s going to be wonderful! We also hope to do lots of fun and wonderful things that I haven’t been able to do since last July, and enjoy life as much as possible until the next PET scan.
Here’s to enjoying the next 2 months with ALL OF YOU!
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