Monday the 17th--- Melanie's update

The results of the brain MRI are good. No cancer or abnormal things going on. Last Tuesday, a upper GI scope was done to check for stomach and esophagus cancer and no cancer was found. However, her stomach and esophagus are being smushed by the tumor which is causing some discomfort and difficulty swallowing and when eating more than a little food at a time. Mom doesn't have much of an appetite and gets sick if she eats too much because of the constriction. Today she had some pre-chemo blood work done and had another CT scan done of the upper chest at Lourdes over in Pasco. This is so we have a CT from a month ago to compare to the one now (before chemo) and then we'll have another after the first round of chemo to note any changes. Her pulmonary specialist is Dr. Vaz (also at Lourdes) and he has been the Dr. draining the fluid in her lungs for her. Today, they did a ultrasound and targeted a spot a little above the one they have been draining from before and got about a liter and and half. Last week, the attempt to drain any fluid failed. She was given a breathing treatment and some prednisone (steroids) to help with the low appetite and help her lungs. Chemo starts tomorrow at 8:15 and things are looking good. The decision has been made to go with chemo and if needed, radiation later on. That is if chemo isn't doing the trick. Because the primary location of the tumor hasn't been identified, we don't want to take the risk of only treating tumor location and not the rest of the body... just in case. If local radiation is needed, we can always throw that in later on.

I was able to get moms medical records faxed over to seattle to the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance today. We have an appointment set up for the day after Christmas for a second opinion... We will see if she is up to it. The cancer center over there has a team of oncologists that specialized in lung, neck and chest tumors and cancers of unknown primary. They look at her records and look over her actual CT/MRI scans and evaluate with the opinions of their own radiologist and come to a conclusion based on the information presented as well ad their own physical exam.

Tomorrow with Dr. Kevin Weeks (moms oncologist) we will see what the progress on the PET scan is (it is being sent for approval from the insurance) and see if that needs to be done and get some more information on the treatment she will be undergoing. That why we can have a heads up as far as her schedule and side effects so we can understand how we can help her a little better. She was feeling much better tonight when I spoke to her and had high spirits. She feels a ton better when she doesn't have 10 pounds of fluid floating around in her chest and she can actually breath and eat something good. Thank you to everyone who has been helping with food and comments and prayers. She told me tonight how loved and appreciated she feels. She needs all the encouragment she can get. Attitude is everything, so if we can help her with that we will be doing a lot.