Pet Scan Results

We have gotten very bad news today regarding Sandi's PET Scan done Saturday. Because of what we were told and her overall medical condition now, we had a very difficult conversation with the doctor about ending all treatment. Sandi wants to keep going as long as she physically can and does not want to stop treatment.She expressed that wish very clearly so this is where we are at and what we plan to do tomorrow.

While the current chemo has slowed the growth of a few of her tumors, others tumors that were visible before on the scan back in the spring have increased significantly. The spinal tumor that was radiated in the summer of 2015 and had virtually gone away is now back. It is msaller than before, but has pulled itself back together and is growing. Not only that, but she has significant new tumors at various lymph node points through her body, along her right rib cage, a few other spots,  and an all new massive spinal tumor.

This new one covers her L3 and L4 vertebrae and then some and is attempting to compress her spinal cord and column in that area as well as shut down her colon, bladder, and kidneys. It is sufficiently big enough at this time that she could be paralyzed at any time. This explains why she is in such tremendous pain in her back, can hardly walk,  and having other issues.

The PET Scan found some other stuff that is also very bad, but the worst is the cancer news. As a result, we meet with the radiation doctor tomorrow and will make a plan for treatment. Last time it was 25 doses of radiation on a daily basis for five days each week. We expect that at the minimum she is looking at that again. Hopefully, we are wrong, but we won't know until the early afternoon appointment tomorrow.

They also have to determine what to do chemo wise. At this point she is far too weak to do chemo so the hope is the radiation will do something as a stop gap while they try to figure out what they can do chemo wise. Their chemo options are very limited and they need time to do some research and see if they can try a couple of things they have thought of at this point.

We expected bad news today, but not anywhere near the level we got it. Things are very grim, but she is not quitting and neither is her medical team or anyone involved in her care. The fight is not over yet.