If this were the movies, today's weather would have been gloomy and raining. Our afternoon at BI started in the PFT lab, pulmonary function testing. The doctors wanted to see how my lungs and breathing today compared to March of 2009, just prior to my diagnosis. The hour of testing brought about instant results of "severely decreased lung function, which is probably caused by the chemo, radiation, and surgery". I'll spare you all of the various stats, but the average of the results is that I only have 50% of my lung function.
With my pft results in hand we make our way to oncology, it started off so smoothly; we went right in, my port was flushed, my vitals were taken and I was all checked in waiting to be seen by Dr. H, then we waited. As always with afternoon appointments the doctors are running late, so they leave us sitting nervously in the waiting room - honestly, just walk by and give me a high five or give me a sad face, but the waiting is torcher!
Finally we are taken back, waited a little longer, and then finally Dr. H walks in. I can tell instantly by his disposition and the way he greets us on the type of news he has; I was not looking forward to the upcoming conversation. After only 12 weeks after my last chemo treatment the lesions in my liver have reappeared - someone call Copperfield!! Dr. H told us originally that the liver lesions were not gone, but only so small that they could not be picked up on the scan. I was always hoping though that they would just keep shrinking and forever disappear. I know that is not what my diagnosis held or that it's realistic to expect; but who likes living in a realistic world, I'd rather a world of hope and miracles. The "good" news of the scan, looking on the positive side, is that the liver lesions that are apparent are the same tumors that were there previously, just bigger, there doesn't seem to be any "new" tumors. Also on the positive side of things, the other tumors haven't changed in size.
The plan is to rescan in six weeks. My white blood cell level is on the lower side, which is only one of the many reasons Dr. H doesn't think it would be beneficial to start treatment immediately.
PS: Happy Valentine's Day!
Upcoming Appts:
3/11: Port Flush
3/26: CtScan
3/29: Results/port flush
