Monday, 27 March 06
My PET scan has been reviewed as clean! The PET had been performed last Friday, following a ten hour fast (6-8 hours is the minimum). The three hour PET procedure began in earnest with a check of my glucose level. The measured figure of 86 mg/dL(milligrams per deciliter) was well below the maximum level of 200 mg/dL, so I was given an injection of FDG, which is radioactive glucose, and sent to a dark room to recline for 90 minutes. During this time, I was not permitted to do anything, other than breathe. No talking, no reading, no lights, no standing up, etc - so I went to sleep. I then mounted a table and a CT was performed followed by the PET itself. The PET machine doesn't make anywhere near the racket of MRI equipment. The individual PET images were assembled into a set of jpegs and reviewed by a nuclear medicine doctor as well as my oncologist. The resultant report was received yesterday, and as stated above, "there are no scintigraphic findings suggestive of tumor recurrence." Translation: I am clean! I am clean not only based upon structural analysis (MRIs) but also from a metabolic (PET) perspective. Your prayers and notes during this time, as always, are greatly appreciated!
Monday, 20 March 06
My bi-monthly oncologist's appointment was accomplished today. CBC results continue to look good, even after two years on chemo. On Friday, a MRI had been performed at Imaging Specialists (ISI), and the report received today is good news again, except for one caveat. The neuroradiologist stated that, "compared to studies dating back to 07/27/05, there is suggestion of slightly more prominent confluent T2 prolongation surrounding the right lateral ventricle and within the pericallisal white matter. This is nonspecific and may even be technical."
Dr. Stark-Vance explained this prolongation is mostly likely caused by the radiation therapy that was in progress two years ago at this time. She does not think that the beast has in fact returned, because recurrences almost always show up within 2 cm (3/4") of the original tumor site. The area identified in the ISI report is quite a distance from the original tumor bed (>10 cm). Also, the tumor bed itself remains unchanged from the scan from July of 2005 and from earlier scans.
Furthermore, Dr. Stark-Vance noted that radiation effects take many months to show up and given the heavy conformal radiation that I was exposed to, she is not at all surprised at the increase in the prolongation. We had previously discussed performing a PET scan at the two year mark, so we are currently in the process of scheduling said scan. Doing the PET will provide additional insight into the prolongation and verify that there is indeed no tumor mass in this region. So overall I am happy with the results of MRI #14 and we intend to address the item in the ISI report in the next week or so.
Sunday, 12 March 06
Completed the 14th round of chemo tonight. Each round consists of two weeks of Temodar, followed by two weeks of 'rest' then a repeat of this cycle. So I have completed 28 of these subcycles. Next MRI is Friday, 17 March 2006. I would appreciate your thoughts and prayers for a clean scan as the procedure begins at 10 am.
Wednesday, 08 March 06
Today marks the 2nd anniversary of chemotherapy. I have been doing the chemo forever, or so it seems. But I am more than happy to take chemo for such a long period of time. I am happy to have 13 clean MRIs since surgery on 2/4/2004.
