CT Results

David had a recheck CT scan of his abdomen & thorax this past Thursday.  The good news is that his abdomen looked clean -- no signs of an infection, tumor recurrence, or metastatic disease in his abdomen & the post-surgical pseudocyst that had developed is a bit smaller!  The kind of disturbing news is that there is a new nodule (5 mm in size) in his left lower lung & an increase in definition of a left subpleural nodule.  What this means exactly we don't know.  Could it be related to metastatic disease?  Of course, that is always a possibility & the issue we worry about the most.  Could it be related to an inflammatory process that worsened while David has been immunosuppressed over the past several months?  Again, this is a possibility.  Could it be related to any number of factors that may cause subtle differences in a CT study (patient positioning, slice thickness, breath intake, etc)?  Maybe.  The bottom line is that we don't really know & there isn't much more that can be done at this point in time to workup this potential nodule (it is too small to try to biopsy).  So, our plan of action is to redo bloodwork every six weeks & redo a CT scan of the abdomen & thorax every three months.

In the meantime, we've made some short term plans.  In a couple of weeks, we will head to the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland for David's youngest brother's (Carl's) retirement ceremony from the Navy.  We are so happy to be able to attend -- it was looking like we might not be able to make the trip because of ongoing chemotherapy.  Mom Hager & all of David's siblings will be at this event, which is something that doesn't happen all that often, so we are really looking forward to being with the whole family!  At the end of May or beginning of June, we will transition to Colorado for the summer.  After only spending a couple of days there last summer, we are very excited to be able to spend time in the mountains & reconnect with our Colorado friends!  In the middle of July, David will be joining his swim friends to compete in the TransTahoe Swim Relay.  David last competed in this event in the early 1980s & has always wanted to do it again.  Beyond that, we have no plans & will wait to see what the next CT study (mid July) shows. 

Again, we want to thank all of you for holding us close over the past ten months of this journey.  I am hoping that future blog entries will be infrequent because that will mean we are out living a disease free life & not having to update you on how David is handling his fight with pancreatic cancer.  Please continue to visit the blog periodically as I plan to provide updates regarding future screening tests.  And, please continue to stay in touch with us -- we want you to be a presence in our lives during the good times just as you have been a presence in our lives with your support & caring during the hard times.  Our love to you all!!  Janet

David's Contact Information:
email:  roentgenread@gmail.com
cell:    619-977-4674

Janet's Contact Information:
email:  janethager1974@gmail.com
cell:    619-997-4674