Good News

I've just returned from a visit to my oncologist, where I got the results of last week's scan. I had been expecting to get them a bit earlier, but they kept not coming through. Finally, at Gita's wise suggestion, I called the radiologists' office this morning and told them I needed the results for my appointment this afternoon. I stressed that it was for my oncology appointment, since I've noticed that cancer gets a person priority treatment from the medical system. They promised to expedite the report, and sure enough, by the time I got to the oncology office the report had arrived.

And the news is good! There has been further tumor shrinkage since my last scan in late April. There is some uncertainty as to exactly how much, since that scan was a PET and this one was a CT, and PETs have somewhat larger uncertainties as to sizing. Another source of uncertainty is that we don't know whether the shrinkage happened in the early part of the intervening time and was due to the residual effects of chemotherapy in my system or whether the immunotherapy drug acting alone is responsible for at least some of it. 

At any rate, it seems clear that the immunotherapy is at least holding the line against progression of the cancer, and that is the main thing. My oncologist said that outcomes are similar whether a person has tumor regression (shrinkage) or stable disease. It's progression that is bad news, and that is not at all what we are seeing.

I am relieved and overjoyed!

One thing I had been a bit worried about was the possibility that I would fritter away the remainder of my life by living scan to scan. In other words, I was concerned that I would never feel free to make plans or set goals because there would always be another scan coming within three months' time that could at any point make all those plans and goals moot. And then I would end up doing nothing with my remaining time. With this good news, though, I feel more confident that I can avoid that pitfall. I am still in all likelihood going to die of mesothelioma, but not this year. And at this rate probably not next year either. For now, that's enough to be going on with. 

So now I've got some life-rebuilding to do! A challenge in this respect is that the immunotherapy causes significant fatigue, as does cancer itself. So I will need to continue to be careful with my energies. But meanwhile I intend to have some good experiences with the energy I have!