Becca received a report from an MRI on her pelvis this week. The good news is that her larger tumors, which had not responded to her most recent chemotherapy (AIM), have substantially shrunk by 2, 3 and 6 centimeters, respectively, since her last scan on July 6. They have gone from big and hard to smaller and softer. Speculation centers on the possibility of the Votrient pills she has been taking for about 10 days working super well, but your guess is as good as the next doctor’s.
Secondly, her lungs are clear so that one appears to be status quo.
In the bad news department, there are two newly identified small tumors. There are two areas of concern:
Most concern is the soft tissue area growing out of her sacrum into tissues parallel to it and trapping the nerve root area. This is what has been causing her really, really bad pain. Becca continues to take methadone, which is sort of the “backbone for pain”; Neurontin for nerve pain; and Dilaudid for extra pain as needed.
The second area of concern is a small tumor nearing the spinal canal, and, of course, you don’t want it to let anything into that canal (spinal cord = bad).
Doctor Tracy described the new tumors as “not an emergency” but better to radiate sooner than later. So presto, Becca begins radiation at 8 am sharp on Monday morning, which is as soon as possible. This will be standard external beam radiation, which is not considered dangerous, as it works around the nerve.
Abby and I will be off to Berkeley family camp tomorrow morning, so I wanted to get this off before I go offline.
Best,
Steve
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Shrinking by 2,3,and SIX cms...wow, that is FANTASTIC news! I'm so glad. Once the cause of the sciatica is zapped away by the radiation, Becca, you should be back to normal activities and a pain-free life. Yay!!
ReplyDeletelove,
Denise
**sorry you'll be missing family camp. Remember my offer, though: if you guys feel up to coming Aug 23rd-Aug 27th, we have an extra cabin. Maybe by then your pain will be gone and you'll feel like spending some time under the trees with friends.