Waitin' on Tuesday

Although I received quite a bit of news yesterday that could really bum a person out, I am far from bummed out.  I was not scheduled to get any of my testing done until next month, but Dr Z is doing some research of his own and decided to include me in it.  That meant instead of waiting 2 complete cycles for my restaging, I would have it done at 1 month.  Thank goodness I did.

The scans I had done on Thursday showed a few things.  It showed that most of my cancer is stable (hasn't gotten worse, but hasn't gotten better either).  It showed that the radiation I had on the tumor on my back (last minute radiation before we came to Texas) almost completely got rid of the tumor, it was barely visible on the scan.  Woohoo!  It also showed that one of my lymph nodes has gotten larger (more cancerous) and a small spot of fluid (not cancer, but cancer related) on my pancreas has significantly increased in size.

So, Dr Z decided that since a few things were getting worse, he didn't want to waste time continuing my current treatment if it wasn't working 100%.  He is currently talking to the pathologist who gave a recent report (he had a few questions for him) as well as a few other doctors (there are some questions about my pancreas) and then he will decide what my next treatment will be and I will find that out on Tuesday.

Until then I am already 1 week into my 2 week wash (the time it takes to get all of the chemo out of my system before they can introduce a new one) and it may take 2-3 weeks for insurance to approve a new trial.  We knew there was a chance going into clinical trials that they may not work and it may take several tries to find one that does, so we're not really shocked or disappointed.  The disappointing part is that our stay here in Texas has now definitely been extended at least another month.  And there is still the chance that depending on what trial I am in I could have to stay down here for all my treatments.

We're praying for a fabulous new trial, quick insurance approval, and a trial that I can also get back at the Clinic.

I'll be posting some fun pictures from this past week with the kiddos later :o)