We Have Shrinkage!

GREAT NEWS Everyone! I had my update with Dr. Sami today so he could explain the results of my latest CT scan and he said things look good! As you may or may not know, according to my last scan and what the surgeon saw on the operating table, the primary tumor had metastasized to my liver. There were "numerous" mets on the liver, my lymph nodes were enlarged and there was some cancer found in the abdominal tissue surrounding the nodes.  My new scan shows that two of the largest mets on my liver have reduced in size, the first WAS 1.7cm by 1.6 cm and has reduced to .9cm by .9cm.  That means it is almost half the size!  The other one is marginally smaller, but I don't remember the dimensions. The rest of the smaller mets have shrunk or remained stable, which is a good thing.  He also said the affected lymph nodes are smaller and there is no sign of any other canser in any of my other major organs or the tissue surrounding them. Bottom line = I am WINNING! The ONLY thing that was the least bit negative was the fact that there is a "shadow" on the L3 portion of my spine, but he doesn't seem overly worried about it. He didn't order a bone scan and I don't have any pain there, so I am choosing to believe it IS just a shadow.  Chemo #6 proceeds on Wednesday as before - he thinks we are doing all the right things to fight it and wants to continue on with the original plan. He also said that due to the extent and rarity of my canser that I should plan to be on some type of reduced chemo plan for a very long time, that we will treat it as a chronic condition - but after the original 6 months of treatment they will space them out further apart and reduce the number of medications I am on so that I can live a more normal life.  This may sound like a bit of a bummer to many of you, but I really don't give a damn what I have to do to survive. It is the only option.  BRING IT ON!  (Dr. Sami also gave me the green light to take a little holiday and fly out to see Tim and the kids this weekend. I can't tell you how excited I am.)

Chantelle and Marly took me to the appointment this morning and as always were incredibly positive and supportive. We left the meeting with great big huge stupid grins on our faces, I almost felt guilty being so obviously happy in front of all the other canser patients.  The girls took me for an all-day breakfast (my favorite) for lunch to celebrate.

I spent the entire afternoon texting, emailing and on the phone spreading the news.  It was so great to hear from so many of you, I really am so very blessed to have such a large and widespread team.

Tonight, I went out for dinner to celebrate with Kristie, Shardelle and Chantelle. We had a fantastic dinner at Rock Creek and so many laughs that my cheeks and tummy are sore. Unfortunately nothing we talked about was fit for the blog - all topics discussed were wildly inappropriate and vulgar by most standards. God I love those girls.

Brown and Chant

Kristie and Me in my new necklace, given to me as a birthday present from Tim's mom and Dad (Barb and Arnie). She made it, isn't it pretty?