It's been a quiet, less stressful week. CMM's iron level is still low (despite taking iron glycinate pills three times a day PLUS liver tablets three times a day as well.) I'm hoping his doctor will finally see the need to give him an iron infusion.
Meanwhile his calcium level is back up, perhaps that is some of what was contributing to his irritability, so he's back on a diuretic for now.
CMM had his PET scan and CT today. This will be out first chance to see how his current treatment is working. We probably won't hear about the results until his appointment Friday with his oncologist. Fingers crossed but I'm expecting it to show little change.
Well scan results are in already. Basically little change. The tumor has contracted slightly but is more or less the same size. The pleural effusion is slightly larger but the lung tissue outside the tumor is clearer. No evidence of spread outside the lung.
I have to agree with doodle - what???? Yeah, I know!!!!!! LOL But based on the three friends of mine who have gone through both stage 3b and 4 lung CA, he seems to be doing well and at least on target to hit the median survival. Part of the problem, as I'm sure you are well aware, is you just know too much which makes it much different for you. Yeah, there has not been a lot of improvement perhaps but remember the alternative - including one of my three friends who survived 10 weeks after official diagnosis. I hope you'll take these results as a win as for many patients - they are!
DonH Midwest Me 56 WAW-EXW 55 Met 11/95 / Married 5/00 Bomb 6/20/05 / She Filed on 6/2/06 / Divorced on 10/9/06 4 who'd qualify as GF since D & dated about 25 women since D
Yes, I know even if this drug just gives him a year of stable survival that's a win. But the results suggest that he won't be one of the lucky 20% or so whose tumors melt away (think Jimmy Carter's brain mets from melanoma which melted away on keytruda) and that's still disappointing (although I already suspected he wouldn't be in that category just from his symptoms.) It's actually pretty much what I expected they would find.
But that being said, radiation is still an option to add I think. There are also some alternative things that we haven't tried yet, and it's also possible that the iron infusions for his iron deficiency anemia will benefit him and his ability to fight the tumor. Meanwhile his quality of life is pretty good, and we have tickets for a Cubs game in June.
Wow. Just learned that a friend may have committed suicide by jumping off a parking garage. More of an acquaintance, he was a good friend to my best friend and very important to the early stages of her music career. I came to know him through her. A lifelong bachelor (and maybe slightly Aspergers) he had a good career and many friends and was very involved with liberal charitable causes. He always had women he dated and who accompanied him to events (he was a fan of music and of the theater).
He was known for his annual Xmas Day party and loved to share his enthusiasms with people, sending people home with dvds of shows he loved. He threw himself a big party at a hotel for his 60th and hired two bands he loved, flying one down from San Francisco, and it was awesome to see how beloved he was by so many people. He was a real mensch.
This suicide would seem so out of character. He did have prostate cancer a couple years ago and was pretty private about it - perhaps it had returned and the prognosis wasn't good? It just seems so out of character, and one of his good friends just spoke to him yesterday and didn't pick up any clue.
I'm so sad for my friend too - this would be the second really important "support" person in her life to die in 3 months, and a third has been diagnosed with throats cancer in that time. All three people that played very important roles in her life and career.
