Tag: scans

Good

In pre-op with Mrs. Schneider
In pre-op with Mrs. Schneider

The doctor turned his head back to the computer screen on the desk and read out the official words from the final radiology report: “The MRI shows no evidence of new or progressive tumor.”

Let it sink in…  Good news.  The very best we could have hoped for!  These little growths, these that have so threatened for months now, these have showed themselves to almost surely be treatment effects.  What a strange cancer world we live in that where success is measured in not dying today and side effects can provoke a sigh of relief.  Oh, but what relief…

In pre-op preparing for the scan: when the medicine works, it works quickly...one minute, up and playing, the next like this...
In pre-op preparing for the scan: when the medicine works, it works quickly…one minute, up and playing, the next like this…

And Chase?  He’s so funny… his hardest part was done yesterday when he woke up in post-op.  The needle was removed and he could eat and that was it.  And today, when we told him the news, he put his hands in his pockets, shrugged, and said “Oh. Good.” …as if he’d known all along.  This boy, he takes it as it comes.  And so will we.  Oh, and tonight, it comes good and great with no fresh cancer news, answered prayer, and an MRI that can wait for three whole months instead of six weeks.

Good news…  The very best we could have hoped for…

Moment by moment.

“This is the Lord‘s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.  This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Psalm 118:23-24

Chase with Nurse Jo in post-op after his scan
Chase with Nurse Jo in post-op after his scan

What’s Next?

We have had the most wonderful break over the holidays!  In truth, the longest break Chase has had since being diagnosed.  We’ve completed 14-16 cycles of chemo and 30 days of radiation.

So, now what …?

At the end of January, there will be an official evaluation to determine whether this treatment is working.  Right now, Chase’s brain is still too swollen from radiation to be able to get a good “read” on how things look.  However, we will have a small preview of the direction things are headed…

On Monday, Chase will be admitted to the hospital for three days of chemo which get started with a spinal tap and interthecal chemo (they inject it into his spine).  When they inject the chemo into the spine, they also remove a small amount of his spinal fluid and test it for abnormal or cancerous cells.  So, even before the big scans and tests at the end of the month, we will probably have an idea of what’s worked based on the content of the spinal fluid.

These evaluation sessions are …I can’t even think of an appropriate word to describe them… important to say the least.  These are the times where we will sit down and talk through all of this working…if we will continue on with the 54 week chemo protocol, or try something else.  These are the times that we will confront this ugly and stubborn cancer in the face and begin to know who is going to win.  As you can imagine, these are the times we simultaneously hasten and dread with the question of which is worse – the knowing or the not knowing?

“I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope.” Psalm 130:5

And so, we wait with hope…

Moment by moment.

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