Cookieknits, And does Other Stuff, Too!

(Written yesterday July 25th, late afternoon, but not posted.)

Philip and I just got back from the oncologist’s office. His PET scan showed NOTHING!!!!! !!!
Her recommendation is a course of oral chemotherapy drug called Temodar:
http://www.temodar. com/temodar/ application, with regular MRIs to make sure that no tumor growth recurs. If it does, they can do radiation at that point.
She says we do have time to get a second opinion. When we asked her about a different radiation oncologist than the one we saw before and didn’t like, she said there were several she worked with. She asked if we prefered Dallas or Fort Worth, and we said it was actually easier for us to get to Fort Worth, so she recommended someone at Harris Methodist Hospital. We will meet him after we get the second opinion, so if Philip decides to get the radiation, or if it becomes neccessary, we know who we are dealing with.
This last big scare might have been because there was a mistake in typing up the report the hospital got from the pathologist at Washington University. Whoever did it, worded it so it appeared as if the doctor there was nearly positive Philip had a high grade malignant brain tumor, which was NOT what we had been told originally. The pathologist’ s report actually said, there were some cells suggestive of a brain tumor, but he couldn’t be sure, because there was too much blood from the rupture
The oncologist’s feeling is, there may have been a brain tumor, but with the stroke and the surgery, all or most of it has been removed, so the correct course of action would be the same with any other form of cancer. Treat for the tiny amount left that you cannot see with chemo and/or radiation. We hesitate to do a course of radiation first, because it can destroy surrounding healthy brain tissue, and you don’t want to do that. You don’t really have much spare brain tissue.

So, tonight, we relax, breathe, and thank God for another chance at life. Thank you all for your prayers. We don’t want to even think about where we would have been without them.

Addendum: I cannot believe how totally exhausted I am today. Last night I slept 10 hours, and today I fell asleep in the afternoon, and slept another hour and a half. I think the relief of having hope has finally allowed me to relax.

Tomorrow, I will post the pictures from my SP10 pal to Flickr, so you can see my goodies!

I think tonight I will sleep a long time again.