Friday, January 4, 2013
Happy New Year!! Mrs. G. and I are sitting here at Northwestern right now waiting for Donny to come out of his second test. He had the CT Scan at 7:15am this morning and is now getting a MUGA Scan. The CT Scan shows the size of the "large mass" in his chest, neck and abdomen. The CT Scan needs to show that the masses have gone from "large masses" to not so large masses. In other words, the tumors need to have shown shrinkage.
The MUGA scan (multigated acquisition (MUGA) scan) creates video images of the ventricles (lower chambers of the heart that hold blood) to check whether they are pumping blood properly. It shows any abnormalities in the size of the ventricles and in the movement of the blood through the heart. Some people with cancer who receive chemotherapy or other drugs may need this test before cancer treatment to identify preexisting heart conditions or during cancer treatment to identify chemotherapy-related heart damage, which is the case for Donny. He didn't have the MUGA before treatment started, he had a Heart ECHO which isn't as extensive, so he is getting the MUGA now to make sure the chemo hasn't effected his heart.
The final test is the PET Scan, which basically determines where the cancerous activity is. We need this scan to come back clear. That means that the cancer is still there, BUT, it is not growing - so the cancerous activity is gone, but the cancer is still there. I know that sounds a little confusing, but it just means that the cancer isn't growing any more.
So, if all of these tests come back the way we need them to (mainly the PET and the CT scan need to show positive change) then Donny can remain on the course of treatment his is on now. If not, he gets pushed up to the elevated chemo called BEACOPP which is 7 drugs instead of 4.
We meet with Dr. P. on Tuesday to find out the results, so needless to say, it's going to be a long weekend. I have such a positive, good feeling about the results. Donny's chronic cough has pretty much gone away and he said he feels like he can breath better, so I truly believe that the treatment has been successful. However, the anxiety I feel over waiting for that thumbs up from Dr. P. is already very overwhelming. Both Mr. and Mrs. G. are coming to the appointment with us on Tuesday so it's going to be a whole bundle of anxiety and emotions until we get that final word from the Doctor. Although, when you think about it, this really is nothing compared to what we were like at the beginning. I wanted to crawl out of my skin I was so anxious and emotional at the beginning between dealing with my fear, the unknown and the emotions of Donny, his parents and my family and friends. It's amazing how quickly you forget about how overwhelmed with emotions you can become. But I guess that's the beauty of life. Your forgetfulness allows you to move on and deal with what's ahead of you. Not that I've forgotten about Donny having cancer, but you tend to get over the emotions, until they come flying back and smack you in the face. And when they do, you grin and bear it with the support team you have around you. Or maybe you shed some tears and bear it. However you do it, you deal with it. And then it's over and you feel like you can fly because the weight of the world is now gone from your shoulders. And I know that's how we'll all be on Tuesday - relieved that we've gotten the good news. So I just have to keep that in mind. Everything will be fine. Everything will be fine. And if it's not...we'll deal with it then and still everything will be f-i-n-e.
So right now we are just hanging out on this bright sunny day. I love Northwestern because it is full of windows, so the sun brightens the whole waiting room and it makes it so much more peaceful to wait in. Again, say your prayers for Donny. I will update the blog immediately so you all know what we find out from Dr. P. on Tuesday. Everything will be fine :)
No comments:
Post a Comment