Report From The Front Lines: Enemy In Full Retreat

Today we met with the medical oncologist. The purpose of the meeting was to see how I was recovering from the initial treatment plan and to go over the latest MRI test results.

I am slowly recovering from the impact of the radiation treatments. Its been 2 weeks and 5 days since the end of radiation and I am still having the mucus and sore throat problem. At this point I still can not swallow or talk much. On the plus side I can tell that it is slowly getting better. The doctor said it is a bit slower than he would like but given that it was a pretty strong treatment plan it is not unexpected. He scheduled me to come back in two weeks to see how I am doing and then discuss scheduling the follow up chemo treatments.

After he did his initial exam we went over the MRI test results. Nothing but good news there. The lab that does the MRI writes up their own report and sends it to the doctor. The doctor can also pull up the images on their computer as well. The report by the lab said everything looked normal. The doctor called them up just to verify and say they were looking for cancer. He then showed us a side by side comparison of the initial MRI and the one that was done last week. What a difference. The MRI just covered the sinus / brain area, not the neck. The tumor on the initial MRI was about the size of a walnut with a stem attached. On the latest MRI it wasn't there at all. No remnant was left. This is the first that we have seen the initial MRI and I am somewhat glad that I hadn't seen it before. I think if I knew the size of the main tumor I might have been a bit more stressed out.

The doctor also did a physical examination of the lymph nodes in the neck and he said they feel normal to him. It appears that the main treatment plan was successful. Between the air assault (radiation treatment) and the ground forces (chemotherapy) the enemy is in full retreat. That definitely makes all of the side effects and such more tolerable.

So at this point everything is looking positive. I have to admit that there was some apprehension between when the MRI test was performed and getting the results today. While I felt that everything would be positive there still was some uncertainty. I imagine it will be that way for the next several years as they test me to see if the cancer has come back.

Until I start the follow up chemo treatments I will probably drop back to posting updates on the blog once a week. In this case no news is good news. :-)