So Far This Is All I Know.....

[DAWN82]

Brian just called to briefly update me on whats going on. there are Dr.s in and out of the office, sheinfeld was in there, Dr. Bosl was in there... the Petscan showed very faint halos around the tumors.... he has to have a liver biopsy and his HCG went down to 5. i am flipping out about this biopsy! i dont know why they have to do this. i guess the petscan showed that the tumors are active... now i have to wait until he gets home to hear the rest.

[Fed]

Dawn,
Don't rush to judgment yet. You don't have the full story, so you shouldn't jump to any conclusions. Remember what I said before: the liver is metabolically active, so it could light up on the PET. The biopsy will determine what exactly those things are. But again, you don't know all the details (do make sure that Brian is taking notes). Rest assured that at Sloan he's in good hands.

[DAWN82]

Dawn,
Don't rush to judgment yet. You don't have the full story, so you shouldn't jump to any conclusions. Remember what I said before: the liver is metabolically active, so it could light up on the PET. The biopsy will determine what exactly those things are. But again, you don't know all the details (do make sure that Brian is taking notes). Rest assured that at Sloan he's in good hands.

FED,
do you know what the halo around the tumor means?? does it mean its alive?

[Margaret]

Hi Dawn, I wish there was something I could say that will help. I am not a doctor so reading this I am just as in the dark as you are. I do take comfort in that he is at Sloan and could not be in better hands. If they need to take a closer look at the liver, then I am sure they just want to be 100% sure of the correct action to take before moving forward. It sounds like they are doing a wonderful job treating him and taking care of all their concerns. Focus on the fact that his numbers are coming down and that he is making huge progress. One step at a time and they will get him the help he needs. Try lots of deep, relaxing breaths and remember that they really know what they are doing and they will help him get better.

We are pulling for you

[mercyriver]

I agree with what Fed said, don't jump to any conclusions yet. Don't forget you are just post chemo and some things are still rebuilding themselves and growing rapidly as well. And what I remember from my husbands pre-chemo PET scan is the cancer lit up SUPER bright on the PET scan. I was trying to find the post about the PET scan, but it doesn't look like I ever posted it. But I think the words were the lymph nodes were "HIGHLY METABOLIC".

Sorry I don't have the exact words, but it was something like that.

Not to discount the findings on his PET scan. I just wanted to give you hope and reason to worry less.

I know how it is to worry.

More cyber hugs to you.

Becki

[Fed]

FED,
do you know what the halo around the tumor means?? does it mean its alive?

Can't help you with that... all I know is what I have said before about metabolically active tissue lighting up with a PET scan, and I got this information from the clinical fellow in our lab (who, unlike me, is a pediatric oncologist hence an M.D.). Biologically it means that there's something that might have taken up the tracer, but one cannot really tell exactly what it is until it's biopsied. This is something that should -and likely will- be answered by the experts.