The Long-Awaited Scan Results

The Results

Today I finally had the MRI scan of my brain and the CAT scan of my lung to see what kind of progress has been made.  The news is pretty good.  There has definitely been no spread or growth on any of the tumors in either region.  Dr. Bonomi said the lung mass looks less dense and slightly smaller.  He was having some trouble with comparing the films for the brain MRI baseline from Highland Park Hospital with the MRI from Rush taken today to determine what difference there is.  He could only see 4 lesions from today's films and HPh had reported 5, although two seemed very close together in that initial report.  Bonomi said it looks like that there may have been some slight reduction in the size of some of the brain lesions too.  He was pretty satisfied with these outcomes and considers this a positive report.  I think I was hoping for some more significant improvements, but that doesn't seem to be the nature of how this treatment progresses.

The radiation technician also saw some density in the left breast that they want to investigate further, so they want me to have a mammogram and also provide films from mammograms from the prior couple of years.  Although this is a hassle, I am not concerned as the very first mammogram I ever had showed density in the breasts and required a follow-up ultrasound.  Nothing came of that and I don't expect that anything will come of this either.

What's Next

I will have a regular check up with blood work in another month and in two months, we will repeat the MRI and CAT scans.  There is a possibility that in about 6 months, if we don't see significantly more shrinkage, we may do focused radiation (gamma knife or cyber knife) on the remaining lesions in the brain and the lung mass.

The Lead Up to Today

The past few weeks have been very difficult to say the least.  I have not felt well and our beloved dog, Sundance, has been gravely ill.  The Sunday before Thanksgiving, we thought we were going to lose her and it was more than we could bear.  The good news is she will live.  The bad news is she has Addison's disease, which is a malfunction of the adrenal glands that can be managed with medication throughout a normal dog lifetime.  She still isn't well and we are still trying to figure out why the medication to treat her illness isn't having more effect, so tomorrow I take her in for an ultrasound.  This has obviously been an added stress in an already stressful time.  During this same time, I caught some kind of cold or flu and became nauseous, lost my appetite, got chills, was very fatigued and had little energy.  I was either riding the couch, going to the vet, or preparing special food and force-feeding it to Sundance with Doug.  By the time these tests came around today, I was so drained of emotion that I didn't even care what the outcome might be.

I am feeling better now.  I am no longer nauseous but still have very little appetite.  Dr. Bonomi is putting me back on the steroids for a few weeks in hopes of stimulating my appetite.  He is also having me take the Tarceva every other day instead of every day.

So, we got a decent report, we have a plan to go forward and now we just got to get Sundance and me back to our normal selves.

Thanks to all who have been sending such supportive and caring emails, voice mails and texts and for thinking and praying for me as we waited for the results of this day.  It means so much to have such incredible support!

My Family "Wigged Out"

This posting is for fun.  There has always been a strong family resemblence among my siblings, but when we all have the same hairstyle, you really notice it.  Some other relatives who may not have a strong resemblence joined in for fun. 

If you click on the link below, you will see me and then each of my family members wearing my wig.  http://donnaleespix.shutterfly.com/461

From left to right, the pictures are me, my sister Deborah, my sister Susan, my brother Rick, my mom, my dad, Doug, my sister-in-law Jennifer and my nephew Charlie.

Good Results from Doctor's Visits

I saw my oncologist, Dr. Bonomi yesterday and my neurologist, Dr. Angelopolous today and all the signs are positive and everything is looking good.  My blood work was all in the normal range.  They both thought I looked very well. 

The Tarceva rash has so far been very mild.  This may be due to the pre-emptive anti-biotics I have been taking, but whatever the reason, it's good by me.  Bonomi is not too concerned about the rash correllating to the efficacy of the Tarceva as he was part of the study that tried to establish that correlation and they were unsuccessful.

I will have a MRI for the brain and a CT for the chest/lung on November 30^th so that is when we’ll find out what kind of progress we’ve made. 

I've added a "subscription" gadget to the left column of this blog that should allow you to subscribe to the blog so you can be notified, or even read a new posting, directly through your email rather than having to check for a new post by coming to the blog site.  I am new to all of this  blog technology, so I am not certain how this will work, but it is worth a try.  Since my postings are becoming less frequent now that things are settling down a bit, this will be a less cumbersome way to keep track of my progress for the readers, if it works.