Gary update 6/9/10 - Not good news

I went in today for my PET scan and mapping for my upper spinal radiation. I am due for my "film check" this coming Wednesday, June 16, then my radiation will start the following day, Thursday, June 17, every weekday morning. I forgot to ask how many treatments it will be. I am assuming 20 like last time, but I'll talk to the doctor to be sure.

By far the most surprising and shocking news is what else the PET scan showed. I nonchalantly mentioned to the doctor that I had been having pain in my side a little but it wasn't close to any bone. We went and reviewed the PET scans and we discovered that the cancer has spread to my liver.

This was quite a hard hit, making us wonder "where do we go from here?" The doctor tried to get in touch with my doctor at Moffitt to confer with him on how to deal with the liver issue, but he hasn't heard back. He has promised to call once he has heard back from him.

The doctor said that the lesions in the liver were "in a good spot" for treatment. He said that, in his opinion, there are three options for treatment. The first is surgical removal. The second is what is known as microwave ablation, where they place a probe by the lesions. The probe emits microwaves which essentially "cook" the lesions. It has a high success rate. The third option is a three-dose radiation treatment which requires no surgery that bombards these lesions. It also has a good success rate he says.

So he wants to see which my doctor in Tampa may want to do. The third option can be done here at my radiation oncologist's office. The other two would be done in a hospital environment, so if the doctor at Moffitt opts for one of the others may want them done in the hospital at Moffitt. That's all up in the air right now.

My doctor at Moffitt may want to do an MRI first to better gauge the extent of the liver lesions. The PET Scan doctor says that this is not an emergency and that we shouldn't panic. Easy for him to say! I reminded him that I had already had all kinds of CT scans and ultrasounds specifically focused on the liver that showed nothing. He reminded me though that this is the first PET Scan I've had, so whether these liver lesions have been there already and we just didn't see them or whether they are new is a question, but he says basically that whether it was there before or not, we know about them now, so we need to deal with them.

A bummer to say the least. Many of you have been praying though that anything hidden would be revealed, so in a way, I believe that may be what is happening. Thankfully I am reminded that these lesions are slow growing and that whatever procedure is chosen for the liver, they all have a high success rate at treating these liver lesions. We continue to leave this in the Lord's hands. He has been faithful, and will continue to be. Praise be to His name!

Thank you everyone for your continued prayers, support, and encouragement. We're trying to keep our chins up and to look at this as just one more bump in the road. This is such a new revelation at this point that we just don't know where to go from here. I'll let everyone know what the doctors decide.

God bless you all!