One week ago today, I finished my most recent round of chemo and it has really taken a long time to recover from it. Every round seems to take more out of me. I am scheduled for the next round on the 21st of this month. As you can imagine, I am really looking forward to it.
The next round will be the 10th chemotherapy treatment to date. I had two last Spring which were largely ineffective and then after the excision surgery in July, I have had 7 more to date with the 8th coming the week after next. As of now, this is the last chemo treatment that is planned. I guess that I shouldn't complain. The last time I was at the infusion center, there was a gentleman there for his 63rd chemo treatment.
In the mean time, another CT scan of the chest was done on 12/22/08 for comparison to the images done on 11/14/08. In my last post here, I provided some images from September and November for comparison. Today, you will find images from November and December for comparison. They are at the bottom of today's posting. The image on the right is the November image and the one on the left will be the December image.
Basically, we continue to see improvement in the size of lesions and no new lesions have developed anywhere in the lungs. An MRI was also done of my arm pit and there is no evidence of any cancer there. In the lungs, there are a couple of larger lesions that have either remained stable in size (didn't shrink) or have actually enlarged slightly over time. The plan for these is to have them surgically removed sometime in February or March. We are scheduled to meet with a cardiothorasic surgeon on the 4th of February to discuss the surgery.
Within the past month to 5 weeks, I have noticed some new symptoms. At first it was quite subtle and so I didn't pay much attention to it but with time, the symptoms became more pronounced and predictable. What I found was that I was having the sensation of a mild electrical shock that would shoot down the back of both of my legs all the way to the soles of my feet. At first, I couldn't put my finger on it, but as it became more noticeable and more frequent, I realized that it was happening when I looked down with my head. You know, like to look at my watch or a plate of food or something. So now that I have that figured out, I can just look down any time and zing, there it goes. The more abrupt I move my head, the more pronounced the symptoms.
I discussed this with the medical team at the Huntsman. I have a long history of low back pain and problems with discs and scoliosis and such, so an MRI of my lumbar spine was done. This revealed that there are a number of lesions in the spine. Remember that I had one in my mid back previously that was treated with radiation - it has been stable since then. These are all new and so an MRI of my cervical spine (neck) is scheduled for next week as well. Here is the text of the MRI report related to this new finding; "Numerous enhancing well circumscribed lesions in L1, L2, L3 and L5 vertebral bodies. Partially visualized, there is a lesion in the left ilium. These lesions are worrisome for metastatic disease in a patient with history of sarcoma."
In layman's terms, this means that there is probable spread of the cancer to the lower spine and possibly to the pelvis (ilium). After reviewing the images, the Sarcoma Team feels that the lesions are not active and have responded to the chemo so far. The scan of my cervical spine will check for spread there. At some point, another PET scan will be done to see what the overall picture is. Remember, previous PET scans were done to determine the extent of cancer spread. That is where the lung lesions and spinal lesion were first identified.
It still hasn't explained the electrical zing and so that will be worked up as we go along. Anywhere along the spine can have a lesion and it even may be due to the radiation therapy on the T8 lesion last Spring.
So, here are the latest images (on the left) of my lungs with comparisons to the ones from November on the right. If you click on each image, it should enlarge for better detail. Enjoy.
God bless you all!
Jim
4 comments:
Great post as always Uncle Jim. In the images, are all the white marks (even the little ones that look like veins or the other white dots) cancer? Or are they lung tissue? As always, Jane and I keep you in our prayers every night. I am glad to hear that progress is being made. We love you lots! I hope you had a great Christmas and a Happy New Years.
Hang in there Jim! We continue to keep you and your family in our daily prayers.
Love,
Melia & Family
You are an inspiration! Hope you were able to enjoy Christmas with your extended family. I'm sorry to report that Uncle Jerald is in Rehab. He and my Mom BOTH fell on 12/23 and he broke L4. He's having P/T and OT and we are hoping he can come home again. Our love to all, Pam
Thanks for the update. We think of you often and keep you in our prayers. Your courage is amazing! love you, janet
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