We now had a diagnosis of cancer and a golden ticket for admission to the Huntsman Cancer Institute. An all expense paid, (less deductible, co-pay and non-covered items) to the place that no one ever plans to be.
6:00 am - a PET scan of the entire skeleton to check for addition bone tumors or lesions. Jay has had some similar pain in his spine and ribs and it's important to identify all areas that may be affected.
8:30 am - Blood was drawn for more tests and Jay delivered his cooler of special "homemade lemonaide" collected over the past 24 hours to the lab for testing.
9:00 am - A meeting with the Radiation Oncologist to discuss his radiation treatment. Dr. Tward reviewed the scan from earlier that morning with us and delivered some encouraging news. Although there appeared to be a compression fracture in one vertebrae, he didn't see evidence of any additional tumors. It's entirely possible that the cancer is localized in the single tumor in his pelvis! If that turns out to be the case, the treatment would be pretty simple. A round of radiation treatments would do the trick. It's too early to get excited about the news. There are a lot more doctors that need to review the tests and images before we get an accurate picture, but we'll take good news any time we can get it.
11:00 am - We got a surprise visit from Akbar who stopped by to see how things were going and give us support. He hung out with me during the most feared test of the day, the bone marrow biopsy. A needle would be inserted into the bone and a sizable amount of marrow would be extracted. They would also remove small pieces of bone for testing. It was a relief when Jay emerged about an hour later not looking too bad. Should we tell Akbar what is really in that cooler he is holding? Naaah.....
We had a little break and this point and we were able to go to lunch with Akbar. It was nice to do something normal for a change.
3:00 pm - Back to Radiation Oncology to get set-up for treatments. If the final diagnosis is a solitary tumor with no spread to other areas then he will receive 20 radiation treatments and likely nothing else. However, if he is diagnosed with early Multiple Myeloma he will receive 12 radiation treatments and the chemo will take over from there. In either case he will receive at least 12 treatments and they will start on November 16th.
It was a big long day and we never did run into any Oompa Loompas. But as we left we were incredibly grateful to have won the golden ticket and be able to receive treatment in this amazing facility. We are in excellent hands and are certain that Jay will be getting the best possible care, the rest is up to the man upstairs, and I don't mean Willy Wonka.
So we have a little more waiting and worrying to do but our meeting next Wednesday with the doctors in the Myeloma group will give us a much better idea of how the next few months will go.
Step-by-step, we'll get there.
Lynn
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