The Early Verdict is In!

PET Scan Results

We got great news from the PET scan (don't want to bury the lead...though you know there's a lot more Shelly story ahead).  

I had a follow-up PET scan yesterday and we met with my doctor this morning for the results.  The active cancer cells have been reduced by 90% after these first two rounds of chemo!  The doctor described the cancer cells as "almost gone" and is very pleased with my progress. 

The tumor itself is "markedly reduced" in size.  The radiologist who read the scan made that comment but you can't really see the tumor on our PET so our doctor is going to ask for an exact measurement so we can compare the size of the tumor, then and now.   Apparently the tumor itself doesn't correspond exactly to the cancer cells anymore and I have more tumor than I have cancer right now...much of what remains of Louie is simply dead cells still sitting there.  The fact that he has shrunk significantly is great and we hope to see him continue to shrivel up and whimper off...but it's the very small portion of Louie that is still made up of active cancer cells that's the big takeaway here...emphasis on very small portion.

We hadn't looked at the original PET scan back in November because I was afraid to see how large the tumor looked.  We had its measurements (9.6cm x 7.3cm x 3cm) and if you envision that I don't have a large chest cavity (not a euphemism, people) you'll understand that an object that size was going to look scary.  But today we looked at both scans so we could see how much progress we've made.  A) It was really *#&*ing huge; B) I wish I could share the images with you because the change is stunning.  Let's see if I can give you a sense.  In scan A) there was a bright glowing blob the size of a blob-shaped grapefruit.  In scan B) the blob had shrunk down to a shallot-sized mini-blob in the lower left hand corner of the original image.  The cancerous portion of Louie makes him essentially a blob-ette at this point.  Blob-ino. Blob-ule.

Next Steps

We will go back to the hospital to start Round Three on Friday and that will mark the halfway point.  Even though there has been great progress made we'll still go through all six rounds of chemo.  My doctor expects we may not see any cancer cells on the PET scan by the time we do another one after Round Four but we'll finish all six in case there are any microscopic cancer cells that don't show on the PET.  You know, a couple of extra whacks at Louie's corpse just for good measure.

I'll write again this weekend.  For now, we're enjoying some good days, gearing up for our next hospital stay, and feeling satisfied that the treatments are doing what they're supposed to do.