Good news and bad news

The good news is the skull, clivus and left ilium mets are stable. Dr. Yamada explained that it's not possible to see shrinkage or necrosis of the tumors on the scans, so what he looks for is either (a) no change in the size of the tumor or (b) no enhancement where the tumor was. In (b), that would mean that the tumor is no longer "lighting up" on the scans, which means it's gone. Unfortunately, he did not look at any of the other skull mets that he did not treat for changes, but promised he would do so and then have his nurse get back to me. So good news: stability at the least and follow up scans in four months.

The bad news is that most of my lung mets have increased in size, ranging from 20% growth (in the largest) to 50% growth (in the smallest). Ed believes that we haven't given Doxil enough of a chance, especially since I missed seven weeks between my October and December treatments due to the radiation. At this point, I preferred the stability of Gemcitabine to growth under Doxil. I understand that Dr. K thought Gemcitabine was a failure because of what she considered progression of my disease (the discovery of the bone mets), but I think they had been there even before I started treatment. Ed and I will discuss this more prior to my appointment with Dr. K next Tuesday, but I really don't want to step up to the next treatment cocktail (AIM). That would signal an end to my hair and perhaps my regular life: work, travel, etc. I'm not ready for that. She had mentioned a clinical trial as a possible next step if Doxil didn't work, but if it's the one other LMSers have tried, it's not going well for most of them.

I will update you after we see her next week.

On a brighter note, Lydia G's son is getting married on Saturday. We wish Jon and Kristen a long, happy, healthy, prosperous and loving life together. We are looking forward to the wedding and seeing several followers of this blog in two days!