K
KathyC
Guest
Saw the oncologist this a.m. & Mike is now having what may or may not be his last chemo. Have to wait 3 long wks for another CT. This was supposed to be the last treatment but CT 6 wks ago showed several tumors deep in intestines that dr does not believe will ever go away so the plan is to see if there is any further "significant" reduction in size (6 wks ago they were only reduced by about 1/3) but dr doesn't sound like he expects it but we shall hope. "If" we do have this reduction there will be 2 more rounds of chemo. After that the dr will do biopsies of any tumors left in the chest & intestines; this time the biopsy of the intestines will be surgical & not the worthless needle biopsy we had last Oct. After that there will be a Pet Scan & if the scan comes back positive for any "hot spots" we will be sent to the Univ of Iowa Hospitals for consult for a stem cell transplant. Considering the Pet Scan in Jan showed NUMEROUS hot spots through out the body & considering the dr does not believe some of these tumors in the intestines will ever be gone we feel our chances of getting a negative Pet Scan are pretty slim but at this point I told Mike we have to take this wk by wk & not give up hope just yet on the chemo doing what it should be doing. Dr said there is a high mortality rate to this procedure but if chemo does not work there is no other way to combat this cancer. Should any of you have any experience with stem cell transplant your input would be welcome: what should we expect, pain, how ill will he get, etc. Of course if we reach this point I know the drs will explain it but it would be nice to hear it from personal experience. Once again, I have to tell you how comforting it is to be able to come here to voice my fears. I truly appreciate my cruise addict family.