Thursday, January 27, 2011

It,s all in the genes

Yesterday was a consultation with a thoracic surgeon. We saw the images from the pet scan on the computer screen of the affected lymph nodes. I was somewhat surprised. I was under the impression that three maybe four nodes were involved. That is the surprise. There are three maybe four groups of nodes involved with four or five nodes per group.

The reason my oncologist wants a biopsy is to find out what gene type my cancer is. Apparently there are three known gene types of colon cancer and they can give type specific chemo. However my oncologist is going to see if this information is available from my previous biopsy tissue. Kaiser keeps tissue from biopsy's and surgery's just for this purpose. If it is I won't get a biopsy, if not the Doc will take a biopsy from an involved node in my neck above my collor bone.

So, for now we are on hold, untill Doc comes up with a treatment plan.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Here we go again!!!

Well, it has been 10 months since my last post. That is because I have been in Neds since Feb.2010. I continued on chemo untill May that year, doing a total of 24 rounds, before deciding to give up chemo againts my Drs. whishes. I was told that if I continued chemo, Goliath would at some point become chemo resistant and begin to grow again. I was also told that if I took a break from chemo and let my body heal that I would be stronger to fight Goliath when he returned and he WOULD return, stronger this time and chemo resistant at least to the chemo regiment I was on the last time. I have been off of chemo for 8 months.

Here we go again!!! My last C/T scan showed mediastinal lymphadenopathy ( enlarged lymph nodes in my chest along my windpipe and between the aorta and the pulminary vein that exits and enters the heart.) A following PET scan confirms the findings. Consult with a throasic surgeon and a biopsy to follow. We have to go through all the diagnosis again but we all know the results, it's all a formality. If the biopsy confirms that it is indeed Goliath, it means that he has survived our best attempt to destroy him and he has moved again. The lymph nodes involved are different ones than last time.

This time is not a surprise. We have been keeping a vigual in the order of quartly C/T scans, holding our breath each time waiting for results and breathing again each time I got the all clear.,however I was hoping for more than 8-9 months.

The time off gave us time to move from Oakley to Belmont, get Michelle into a new school and Denise established in her new job. I was feeling so good that I was searching for a job. I even put in a few applications. Not to be! I guess I now will need to put all my effort into battling Goliath.