Not so scary after all...

is the name of a Halloween book Walker received from his grandfather. It is all about how some things are scary at first and when you find out what they really are...they are not so scary after all. This is what happened in Nebraska...

When we left for Nebraska, this is what I thought I knew:

I had a 4 cm tumor with 5.8 uptake (live cancer) and I had spells of shortness of breath and occasionally could barely breathe at all. It seemed that the chemo treatment was not working anymore and that it was likely that I was going to have to play the stem cell transplant card which is usually in reserve for a recurrence. I could not imagine anything that Dr. Armitage would say that could make feel better about the situation other than that we still had a battle, that we could win, ahead of us.

Not so scary after all:

Dr. Armitage did the usual history and examination. Then, he said the best and most unexpected thing....you might be in REMISSION!!!

Long story...short:

I have a 4 cm tumor that is mostly dead. There is only a halo of live cells around the tumor. These are expected to decrease as the chemo continues to work. A PET/CT at 6 weeks past the last chemo will be a better indicator.

The next step:

We are headed back to Nebraska 12/11 for another PET/CT and to meet with Drs. Armitage and Enke (the radiation oncologist) to discuss how to proceed based on the results. If indeed I am improving, we will continue with radiation as anticipated. It is likely that I will need 20-22 days or approximately 4 weeks - 5 days a week.

The cough/shortness of breath:

I was told that it was either bronchitis or pneumonia. I took some pretty strong antibiotics and used an inhaler that improved my shortness of breath. I am now back to my regular chores which makes Stephen (who has been a champ about doing everything) very happy :)