good scan!

Hi, Keith here. E's oncologist is out of town, but we saw her colleague this morning to discuss the results from last week's PET/CT scan. We've had several days of nervous apprehension thinking about the worst case, but hoping for good news. The suspense was really getting to us but, thankfully, once the doctor walked in the door it was a mere seconds before she told us that things are looking good! The previous PET/CT showed some stuff in her chest, but that was from December's pneumonia and it's clear now. Her liver and lymph nodes are clear, and the cancer in her breast has mild uptake (that's a GOOD thing). Whew! It's going in the right direction. With this news, she'll continue with her current chemo cocktail. We'll be seeing her breast surgeon on Friday to get his take on the situation and hopefully get a better idea on how to proceed regarding if/when to have surgery. He usually does a quick ultrasound in the office which is helpful in tracking progress.

Eileen's port redness has returned and it looks to be getting a little worse again, but she says it doesn't really bother her. (I joke that it looks like she has a piece of twizzler stuck to her neck.) The doc checked it this morning and didn't seem too concerned about it at all really, so I guess it just is what it is until it either clears up again or gets bad enough to do something about. It was nice to have someone look at it again though, just to confirm that we needn't worry about it.

Eileen shared with me that she's been freaking out the last few days because her arm pits (read: lymph nodes) have been sore. She was concerned (convinced?) that the pain was an indication that the cancer had gotten another foothold. As it turns out, she realized that the new shirts she bought don't fit right in that area. Could be cancer.....or, just poorly fitting clothes. Argh! See what a mindfuck this is? It's so easy to freak about every little ache and pain! (Hell, I'm even doing it....oh and I swear I get sympathetic chemo side effects.)

Anyway, thanks for playing along. We're looking forward to some better sleep tonight.