The final pathology report from David's biopsy procedure done last week shows no evidence of cancer recurrence in his abdomen -- yahoo!! So, we are going to go forward with stereotactic radiation therapy for treatment of the solitary pulmonary nodule. The first step will be to have another CT scan done of David's chest to do the planning for his radiation treatment. This will hopefully get done next week. Then it takes about 10 days for the physicists to map out David's treatment plan -- this particular radiation is delivered in very high doses to a small volume of tissue where the nodule is located. Because it is hitting a moving target (the lung), it is a complicated (from a physics standpoint) process to have the radiation beam strike only during a particular point in David's respiration cycle. Once the physics mapping has been completed, they are planning on four treatments delivered twice a week for two consecutive weeks. We are hoping treatment will be completed in May & that we can head to Colorado sometime in June for at least a portion of the summer.
While it may seem funny for us to feel happy about heading into radiation for a pulmonary nodule, we are happy because we dodged a lot of potential bullets so far .... no evidence of recurrence in David's abdomen as best we can tell at this time, a solitary nodule in David's lung instead of multiple nodules in different lung lobes, & no chemotherapy is being recommended at this time. Our new saying of gratitude is that any day without chemotherapy is a great day!!! So, while it would have been better if David hadn't had any signs of disease progression, this scenario is maybe better than some others we could be facing.
As always, our wonderful circle of family & friends provides us with great support & love so that we can rally our strength to get up & fight the fight once again!! With much thanks & love, Janet
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