Chemo #5 & Scan Results!!

Eric took off of work so we could go to Brett's appointments together.  (Scott is up North with Grandma Debbie this week.)

We started out at the Lab, of course where everything went smoothly - and then we were off to Grace Clinic to see the nurse practitioner (we should tell you all that her name is Julie).

She checked things over and then brought up our results.  Dr. Fenske was busy (but saw us in the chemo center later on!).

When Julie brought up the current scan - it looks amazing, but then when she brought up the scan from June 2nd, it took our breath away.

Click on this to see the full picture.

When we saw the scan (again) from June 2nd - we realized we never saw a comparison before.  It seriously made us look twice.  You'll also see that his bones are more prominent because his bone marrow must have been working hard - he was very anemic.

SO - what are you looking at?

The big blob in the middle is his heart, the 2 spots up in his throat is his vocal cords (they said he was probably talking)... and the branchy-looking things in his abdomen are his kidneys.  In the cropped part below (cropped for obvious reasons) - you could see his bladder.

The current scan does show some cloudy parts in his chest, and armpit - and a brighter spot by his neck and one above his heart.  Those are likely still malignancies - but look at the PET from before!  My goodness!!!  We can't quit looking at it over and over again.  You can also see Brett's weight gain between the two, also. :)

He's not even halfway through treatment!  So this is extraordinary news.  It makes chemo and all of its side effects worth it.  

Brett over there just curing his cancer!

During Chemo - Complications

Brett had some chest tightening and has had a slight cough (different than the cough from lymphoma he had early on).  This is likely caused by the Bleomycin and often this chemo drug is dropped and not done for the whole course of treatment.  This will likely happen soon since lung toxicity is very dangerous and some effects are irreversable.  

Dr. Fenske spent some time talking to us and going over a few things.  He is really happy with the PET scan and the weight gain.