Chemo Postponed

My next round of chemo has been postponed until next Wednesday.  It was scheduled for today, but the oncologists want to wait until the Tumor Board revoew my PET and CT scans on Monday.  The PET/CT from last Monday found one area that appears to have grown in the last three weeks.  The oncologist showed me the last five or so scans, and the area of interest is associated with the pericardium (the sack around the heart).  Between August and about December the area seemed to shrink.  Then it was essentially stable until this last scan.  It may be an area of fluid collection rather than a tumor, but it is hard to tell.  The Tumor Board is a meeting of the oncology staff in which cases are reviewed.  Multiple radiologists will be there to look at the scans and discuss what they see.  Dr. Weickhardt will call me on Monday to let me know what they think.  I have my next chemo scheduled for Wednesday, but the decision of what to do will be made on Monday.  If it appears that the area is not a tumor, then we will proceed with the current chemo.  If it is growing, then we will go with a new drug, or we might decide to take a pause and think it over.  One other puzzling factor.  The area did not light up on the PET scan which identifies areas glucose uptake like the brain or cancer cells.  That gives me hope that the area is a collection of fluid.  I don't know what that would imply or if it would be significant, but it seems to make the most sense to me--the only area to grow and no glucose uptake.

I'll write a post with the decision next week.

On the family front, we had a great visit from our daughter, Sarah, and her son, Jamie.  It was good to have both girls and their families (but unfortunately without Ryan) here together.  The noise and chatter was like a visit to the grandparents at Thanksgiving or Christmas.

David