It has been a busy and hectic 3 weeks since my last update. We spent the month of September at MD Anderson clinic. We have had appointments at the clinic everyday except one so far this month.
Diana had 3 MRIs – each on a different day since they can only do one a day. They were of her Lower spine, pelvis and right femur, Dr. Blumenschein is looking for anything that can cause the pain Diana has been and is experiencing.
Diana also had an appointment with a kidney specialist, the pain center and today she had an appointment with an orthopedic doctor and finally the radiation doctor. The kidney doctor scheduled a blood test and an ultrasound of her kidneys which was done last week. The orthopedic specialist had several x-rays of her right femur done today. Lots of tests and lots of results – mostly good.
The MRIs showed new cancer activity in her right leg (femur) and pelvis area, Thus the need for seeing the orthopedic doctor. His analysis was that Diana’s leg is strong and could withstand radiation treatment without any surgery required to strengthen the leg. He also commented that the chemo appeared to be attacking the cancer in her leg because he saw new positive bone growth around the cancer which is a good sign.
Diana’s high kidney blood count was attributed to the fact that she was sick (nausea) so often in August and that caused her to get dehydrated. Her blood count has come back to normal. There are some small questions with the kidney ultrasound test that will be discussed at our next meeting with the Kidney doctor scheduled for next week. However, while doing the kidney ultrasound – they may have detected a small lesion on the liver. A CT scan of the liver is being scheduled to investigate further. Last fall, Diana did have a lesion on the liver – however, the use of Tarceva eliminated that lesion from the liver. Her CT scan in January showed the liver lesion gone. We will have to wait for the new CT Scan for more information.
Lastly – the radiation doctors decided to proceed with using Radiation on Diana to eliminate as much of the cancer as possible in her right femur and pelvis. She will have a CT scan tomorrow to pinpoint the actual locations to receive radiation. Her radiation treatment will start on Wednesday and will consist of 10 treatments. The treatments will be daily on Monday – thru Friday for 2 weeks. The radiation doctors have high hopes of eliminating much of Diana’s pain.
Else all is well. Fall is coming and the temperature and humidity has fallen, Today the high temperature was 83 and the low 80’s are predicted for the week. When we are home – not very often – Diana has been sitting outside on our covered porch enjoying the weather. We haven’t been very active in meeting neighbors or socializing. I did meet one person who moved in the same day as us. After moving into their new house, her husband has been diagnosed with Leukemia and is now a patient at MD Anderson. We wave to each other as we go/come home from MD Anderson.
Thanks for your prayers and support.