Cycle 3, Day 1

Mom chillaxing in the hammock. Jamaica Plain, MA, June 2009

Feeling really positive after our meeting with Dr. C this afternoon. He sat down with Mom and I and walked us through all the CT imaging done last Friday. Here are the take-home points:

• The handful of lymph nodes that were clearly inflamed with cancer have shrunk, some by roughly 15% in size.
• The mass in her neck and groin is very hard to measure because of the way it infiltrates in to surrounding tissue. So although we are unable to quantify the status of these masses, Mom can feel that the groin tumor especially has decreased because her mobility is much improved. Additionally, the tenderness she was experiencing in her underarms and breasts is also far less than 6 weeks ago, which is reassuring that inflammation decreasing.
• There is something around her gallbladder, which we won't know if it is cancer or not without a biopsy, but since it's not impacting anything negatively, leave well enough alone. To know if it was cancer wouldn't change our course of action.
• She has a small pericardial effusion on her heart. The pericardium is the outermost layer of the heart, and sometimes fluid gets trapped inside that layer. If enough fluid accumulates, it can impair proper pumping of the heart, tire the heart, and cause problems. We would know if she was negatively impacted if she experienced any shortness of breath, which she hasn't. The plan is just to keep an eye on it. No further tests are necessary at this point.
• Before her next chemo in three weeks, she is going to have an implanted port-a-cath placed. A "port" as it's often referred to, is a catheter placed in the chest that goes directly in to a major artery. She has been having IV's placed and blood drawn so frequently in the past few years that good veins are getting harder and harder to come by. To access a port, a small needle is inserted in to the head which sit right below the surface of the skin. Blood can be drawn, fluids and chemo given, etc. It is very convenient for those who require long term chemo and lab draws. It is not a major surgical procedure and she should be in and out within the day. Date TBA.

A productive day all around. There are not always answers for all of our questions, but as of now, the clinical trial is considered productive and she is to continue as planned.