CT scan update-good news!

Been sweatin’ it this past week through the process of the quarterly scans and checkups. Though I don’t frequent the boards as much as I did when first diagnosed I want to send my love and hugs to all who are now dealing with recurrences that, as we know, can just be a scan or a CEA rise away. Kinda blew me away reading all the news. I also want to send out a HUGE thanks to all here. There’s no doubt in mind that all that I have learned here from you here is contributing to my well being now. Last year my medical oncologists docs were suggesting systemic chemo for the 4 lung mets. Because I knew about other options, such as the stereotactic radiation, my 4 lung mets are history. Last week my medical oncologist said that not being on systemic chemo was a pretty reasonable idea since of my limited disease status. And I’m gonna ride that wave as long as I can!

So last Thursday we drove to Salt Lake for the tests (abdominal and lung CT and a GI scope). My GI surgeon said that the rectal connection is open and clear with little scar tissue. Weird to view this via the scope as he’s talking but, yep, barely can see the scar. The next day at my medical oncologist appt I found out that the CT and blood work results were great! –no new nodules in ether the lungs or abdomen/pelvis. And CEA =1 (though not the best indicator for me). As a person living with metastatic disease, this is sweet news.

However as someone who would like to not be dealing with cancer at all, it was a less satisfactory result. There is a remnant nodule in my right lower lung, which has increased in size slightly. This could be scar tissue from the previous radiation...or…... Last January scans of the stereotactic radiation to the four lung mets are in my local oncology office so there could be no direct comparison. I called my radiation oncologist right then for an appt today.

So today my husband and I and my radiation doc compared the treatment CT scan he worked from a year ago and the CT scan from the Huntsman last week. Quoting the gist of the conversation: "Yah, that's the one we treated. Looks about the same; no real change (uses the cool computer calipers on screen); if anything just scar tissue... I radiated the heck out of that." I'm sure glad THAT roller coaster ride is over; ALIVE to fight some other day!

Sweet NED! Yeehaw!! And here’s the music tune that I swung to on the 3 hr drive back home through the beautiful winter Wyoming landscape:
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/wm-A10302B0000384965Q/traveling_wilburys_end_of_the_line_official_music_video/


And I also wanted to share here the more philosophical reading that’s helped me along during these 3.6 years from diagnosis:

Michael Lerner
Choices in Healing: Integrating the Best of Conventional and Complementary Approaches to Cancer
1994 MIT Press

“I would pay a great deal of attention to the inner healing process that I hoped a cancer diagnosis would trigger in me. I would give careful thought to the meaning of my life, what I had let go of and what I wanted to keep.

“I would give careful thought to choosing a mainstream oncologist. I wouldn’t need someone with wonderful empathetic skills because I have other people to provide that. But I would want a doctor who is basically kind, is on top of the medical literature regarding my disease, takes the time to be deeply involved in treatment decisions, supports my use of complementary therapies, and sticks with me medically and emotionally if I were facing death.

“I would use conventional therapies that offered a real chance for recovery, but I would probably not use experimental therapies or therapies with a low probability of success that were highly toxic or compromised my capacity to live and dies as I choose.

“I would use complementary therapies. I would look for a good support group and a psychotherapist experienced in working with people with cancer. I’ve been a vegetarian for many years but I would look for ways to enhance my nutrition. I would meditate and practice yoga more often, and spend more time in nature, taking walks in the woods, by the ocean, and in the mountains.

“I would definitely use traditional Chinese medicine, both herbs and acupuncture.
I would strive for life and recovery with every possible tool and resource I could find. But I would also work to face death in a way that deepened my growth and led to some resolution.

“I would spend time with people I value, and with books, writing, music, and God. I would do everything I could do that I didn’t want to leave undone. I would not waste time with old obligations, though I would try to extricate myself from them decently.

“I would try to live my own life in my own way. I would try to accept the pain and sorrow inherent in my situation, but I would searchingly for beauty, wisdom, and the joy.”



all the best, Leslie