A month ago I wrote that SWMBO was feeling well enough to go to the range ... not to shoot, but just to visit her friends. And she has many friends who tell me at every match to relay their support and comfort to her. That trip gave them the opportunity to tell her in person.
Two weeks ago she went in for CT scan, which was used (in comparison to her Initial CT scan about 9 months ago) to determine the growth rate of the tumor in her lung.
A week after the CT scan, the assistant at her Oncologist's office phoned her with the results: no change.
That's both good news and not-so-good news. The good news was that the tumor doesn't seem to be growing. The not-so-good news was that it doesn't seem to be shrinking, either.
We decided that the good news was the important thing, so we were pleased with the report. No, it wasn't what we wanted to hear. We wanted them to tell us that the 'maintenance' chemotherapy was starving the tumor. Since that isn't happening, we're almost as pleased to learn that the therapy was retarding the growth.
Today she had her monthly visit to her Oncologist. She said: "I want to look at the original CT scan and the last scan, so I can see what it looks like."
It turned out that the assistant at her Oncologist's office had missed one important point.
Her Oncologist pointed it out:
"See this area on the original scan of your cancerous lung? Now compare it with the same area on the latest scan. See the clear imagery? That's healthy tissue!"
I didn't know about that until I stopped by to see her after work tonight. We were talking about incidental stuff when she interrupted me with a two-word surprise:
"Good News!"
That good lady had been sitting on the results of the CT scan all afternoon, just so she could watch my face as I assimilated the implication of those results.
I have to tell you, this absolutely made my day (my week, my month ...)
Whether one can draw any conclusions from this information is beyond me. I don't know if it's the first or second step on the way to full recovery, but this is the first indication we've had that Cancer is not necessarily inevitable.
Our thanks to all of you who have been praying for Sandie. I choose to believe in the Power of Prayer.
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