Next After Chemo

With the forth and final round nearly upon us, I wanted to share the schedule post-chemo for the evaluation of my cancer.

There are two appointments I have which will determine what, if any additional treatment I'll require.

On June 30th I have a PET scan at Memorial Sloan Kettering. The PET scanner is also a CT scanner and will tell us and the doctors two things. First the CT aspect will indicate the new size of the tumor. Secondly, the PET scan shows the level of biochemical activity in the tumor, but the most useful determinations will be made by comparing the June 30th PET to the one I had on March 24th.

The second appointment is on July 2nd with Dr. Motzer. On the 2nd Dr. Motzer and his colleague will review the scans and make their recommendation. His colleague is the surgeon who does the lymph node surgeries when they are required.

There are three possible outcomes.

• The scan shows that the tumor is either the same size or larger, or even has shrunk but and that there is still significant metabolic activity. This would indicate that I have a chemo resistant tumor and I would need additional HD (high dose) chemo, the details of which I don't know.
• The scan shows the tumor is the same size, but that the metabolic activity is reduced or eliminated. In this case we're in a grey area, with the discussing being whether or not to remove the affected lymph node surgically or not.
• The third outcome is the most likely and the most positive. That case would show that the tumor is reduced in size to less then two centimeters and that the metabolic activity is completely shut down. No further treatment would be required and I'd enter the remission period.

I've imagined this blog would be heavily trafficked at the whatever time I was going to be posting whether I'm cured or not. Well that time will be on or around July 2nd.