Time to Feed the Meter

If you put coins in an old-fashioned parking meter, you get some time. Then after a while the time starts to run out, and to maintain your parking spot you have to put in more coins.

This is my new metaphor for mesothelioma treatment: you apply a treatment (coins), and you get some time. Mesothelioma has a nasty way of coming back, though, so after a while you have to apply another treatment. And then another.

Which is the long way of saying that my PET scan last week contained bad news: the big tumor at the base of my lung is revving up. The challenge now is to choose the treatment. So far the top contenders are surgery and proton beam therapy. I saw the proton beam specialist yesterday, and he was pretty confident that they can kill the tumor. I'll see the surgeon next week and see what he says. I am inclined to go for the noninvasive option, but we'll see what the surgeon says. Hopefully whichever treatment I go with will buy me lots of time. 

Meanwhile, it's rose season in the garden, so not all the news is bad.

I love red roses.

Scans Beget Scans

I had a CT scan last week, and the results were mostly good, where good means the tumors are not growing. But the main tumor just might be a little denser than it was before, so I'm being sent for a PET scan to see if it's becoming more active. It seems there's always something to worry about with mesothelioma. And lots of scans.

I told my doctor that I have to be well enough to travel to England in late June, as I'm scheduled to speak at the Grapholinguistics in the 21st Century conference in Reading. He says the CT scan results are no threat to that plan, so I have gone ahead and bought my ticket. I'm very much looking forward to the conference!

Meanwhile, it's hard to tell if the acupuncture is doing anything or not. If it is, it's pretty subtle. My oncologist says that that's what most of his patients find if they try it, while a few get more dramatic results. At the very least, it isn't doing any harm. 

It's been a little over a year since I finished chemo. In celebration I harvested the first kumquat from the little kumquat tree I bought as my first chemo plant. I cut it in half so Anand and I could share it. It was good, with a surprisingly sweet rind.

My first kumquat