Thursday, December 10, 2009

Doctors' meeting results

We don't know much more than we did before. They did not reach a consensus about what the lesion is, whether it is tumor or a walled infection or whether it is something that is going to disappear. The doctors seemed to think it could be tumor; at least one radiologist thinks that it looked more like an infection. Regardless, here is the plan:

The Boy will go in for surgery once his counts recover. Before surgery, they will do an ultrasound to see if the lesion is, in fact, still there. The Boy had spots on his lungs in a scan done at the end of April that disappeared on the next scans, but those were from his cold that he had at the time. If the spot disappears, of course they will do no surgery. The surgeon indicated that it would be an easy procedure and may even be able to do it laparoscopically.

EDIT: since chemo would have been scheduled to start on December 23rd, that's probably when they'd shoot for surgery, if he has recovered by then. Or we could wait until after Christmas. No one wants to be in the hospital on Christmas, regardless of your religion.

Once they do surgery, they'll have it analyzed to see what it is.

If The Boy has more tumor growth, they will go on to find a new treatment for him, likely a Phase I Trial (a study of some kind).

On the same subject, The Boy has had awful poo all week. Stool cultures were negative, as was the C-Diff test. I asked about The Boy's liver function tests and if they had been done recently. The doctor said that his liver function was normal for his chemo protocol, but they'd draw another one with his next labs. It is possible that the poo is related to the liver issues.

What they did not say was that they are giving up.

4 comments:

Rebecca said...

Well, here's to hoping no news is good news. I hope that everything winds up being a big nothing! Thanks for updating! I've been anxiously waiting all day.

JC said...

I say wait until after Christmas. Enjoy the holidays with your family and have a few glorious days together!!!! You deserve them. Big hugs to you!

Molly said...

We're Jewish so Christmas isn't that important to us but I don't necessarily want to be in the hospital with other people who have to work on Christmas and would rather be home. They're all professionals of course but if I can save them the effort...

Velvet said...

I only just caught up on your blog, Molly, and I just wanted to say I'm thinking of you all and sending my prayers. I hope it turns out to be (relatively) easily treatable, and that David recovers quickly from the surgery.

I'd also like to wish you and your family a beautiful and peaceful Hanukkah.

Gill xx