"I'm not dead yet! .... I think I'm getting better!"


Good news on the cancer front, at last!

For those who have not heard, today's CT and PET scans show that the tumor is smaller and "mostly dead."  More precisely,

CT scan: The tumor shrunk from 13 cm across to 10 cm.  Shows necrotic (dead) structure.
PET measures glucose uptake. Above 5 is malignant.  Previous pet scans had glucose uptake of 17-18. Today was 2.  The scan shows no spread of cancer to the neck, abdomen, or thighs.

So the cancer is in remission. Next steps:
1) collect stem cells for a self-donor bone marrow transplant.
2) high dose chemo to finish off the tumor.
3) transplant stem cells to replace my immune system, which will be destroyed in step 2.

No schedule yet for the next steps.  They will require me to stay in Birmingham for 3-4 months.  So, the job is not done yet, but the future looks better now than it did a few weeks ago.

Posted: Mon - September 8, 2008 at 08:48 PM           | |

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