The second week of June I went to MD Anderson to have an MRI and CT scan . It was set up to be a very very long day. The day would start at 7am with blood work. With Houston traffic we needed to get a hotel for the night close to the MD Anderson complex. Remember when I said it was a complex, well driving around the streets of Houston at 6 am you’ll take whatever parking garage for the complex you can. Only until you’re instead do you realize that the actual offices you need are a mile and a half away walking through multiple buildings. There is a shuttle but of course that runs on limited hours. I was determined to grin and get through the long day. I had a brain MRI at 10:30, CT scan at 3:30 and would see my oncologist the next day to go over the results.
Dragging from appointment to appointment I looked for couches to lay down on and sleep the day away. The Brain MRI was on time and went well. The nurses seem to love poking the left elbow so all IVs and blood work go in there. “Grin and bear it. Just don’t look. It’ll be over soon.” The things you tell yourself to make it through each one. The CT machine broke down and was delayed. The result–having my last scan at 8:45 that night. Now you can’t eat or drink anything two hours before your scheduled appointment, so I didn’t eat/drink anything since 1:30. It was a hellish day. I wanted it to be over quickly and get out of there. By the time the scans were completed the shuttle service had stopped running and places to eat in the hospital were closed. To say it was a nightmare is a complete understatement. I later called patient support and insisted on appointments that were closer together. The day seemed endless and all I wanted to do was go home and sleep.
The next morning I had an appoint,met with the doctor at 1. This was quite an improvement over the 7 am, sit in 1.5 hours of Houston traffic. Still I didn’t want to go. I didn’t want to know the results. What would be the next step? What if this didn’t work?
The scans reveled that all tumors in both lungs were in measurable or gone!! I couldn’t believe it and asked a million questions. There were still three tumors in my brain. These they found to be stable, meaning they hadn’t grown in the three months since they had found them. Relatively good news, though I would ha preferred to have them gone completely. It took a while to sink in. What did this ,ran? Was this a second chance at life? Would the tumors return?
At MD Anderson the oncologist cited his own research study that I may not need more infusions of immunotherapy ever. We would just have to watch the lungs and brain tumors for progression. My Austin oncologist wanted to be a bit more traditional and continue with Opdivo infusions to control any growth over the next 18 months. The idea of no more treatments is appealing but if these can save my life the they’re worth it.
The plan for the summer was to Belarus fro. The side effects of the chemo infusions and get better. The drugs had also destroyed my thyroid and immune system. On Monday I have another appointment at MDA to check in. Scans won’t come for another month. Another month of waiting and hoping for the best. For now I’m gaining for energy and strength for whatever’s comes next.
Courageous Perseverance 