Cameron and Kacey

Cameron and Kacey
My Beautiful Angels

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

FINALLY.....A Little Break That I Have Been Waiting For!

I know what you are all thinking....two posts in one week!?!? Wow!! But I just had to share my little bit of good news that I received from the doctor yesterday!

On July 9th, I had a CT scan to have a "baseline" after the chemotherapy and before the radiation treatments began. When I saw the doctor later that morning, she did not have the official radiology report, but looked at the scan with me and stated that the tumor had reduced greatly in size. That was all I needed to hear before heading off to a few days of relaxation in Vermont with the family.

Yesterday, I saw the doctor for the first time since beginning my radiation. I had been seeing the physician's assistant, as my doctor was on rotation at Brigham and Women's Hospital for two weeks. While she was doing her weekly check up with me and talking about any issues I was having, we asked if she had received the final report from my last CT scan. The report stated that the tumor had reduced to approx. 1cm! It was originally 5 x 3cm in size and involved my carotid artery. This newest report stated the new size and that it was hard to tell from a CT scan how much of that 1cm is disease because there is necrotic (dead) tissue. They would need to do a PET scan to find that out. I am sure I will have that when my treatments are finished. The report also had NO mention of ANY carotid involvement!

So some of my prayers have FINALLY been answered! I am happy for today and still have 22 treatments after today. I will battle through those and four more weeks of chemo and hopefully keep the side effects to a minimum. Like I told the doctor yesterday, "I am NOT done fighting yet! And I will continue to fight with all I have!"

I hope everyone is having a wonderful week and enjoying this beautiful weather!
Life is precious....take a deep breath and remember the little things that matter most!
They say, "It's not the number of breaths we take in life, but the number of moments that take our breath away." I truly believe.....

3 comments:

  1. What fabulous news!!! I am positive that it was the gummy worms that helped so we are definitely going to go get more next week!!! You are an amazing woman and have fought so hard and we all know that you will continue to fight to beat this once and for all. We are all so proud of you and stand with you through this. Life is precious and we must appreciate every single day. Love you so much!

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  2. WOW, nicely said Rissy! Such amazing news....we are SO very happy!! You are an unbelievable fighter and know that you will fight until you beat this!!! You are so strong...keep it up and stay as positive as ever! You are winning!!!! Love you so very much!!! xoxoxoxox

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  3. That's AWESOME news. Keep focusing on the positive and the progress and KNOW WITHOUT A DOUBT that you will be done with this treatment soon (and forever). You're an inspiration to all of us, honey!

    And, I'm glad you treated yourself to a new laptop. Now we can get more frequent updates! :) Love ya lots!!
    Miche

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