Friday, November 10, 2006
The best news yet!!
This morning we saw the radiation doctor who said that it appears that Mark is cancer free except for a tiny spot where the original turmor was. The tumor has completely shrunk and is now mostly dead skin so we will meet with the surgeon to decide whether to have it removed. Also, the physicain cancer group on the Cape will discuss the situation at their meeting next Friday, November 17 and report back. The doctor actually used the expression "in remission" which surprised us but it was later clarified by the oncologist.
This afternoon, Gary accompanied us to the oncologist who agreed that the cancer seems to be gone and you could consider it a"semi-remission" but he was not at all optimistic about how long that would be the case. He thinks it is still there in some places but not visible on the scan. It is still stage four squamous cell cancer. Today's results are the best that we could hope for following the treatments Mark already had but the cancer is sure to reappear elsewhere. He will have a follow up CT scan and revisit the issue in early February.
Mark ended up back in the emergency room last weekend due to the severe pain from the burn area under his arm but the rest of the radiated area has healed extremely well. He is still in bed a lot of the time due to the high dosage of pain medications for the raw burn in his armpit but was put on a new pain medication last weekend specifically for nerve endings that has helped more than other pain relievers
The oncologist reiterated that the radiation and chemo Mark had were EXTREMELY aggressive and would have killed someone who was older and not in top shape physically. Mark said he thought they WERE going to kill him some of the time! It will still take a while for the skin situation to be repaired and for him to recover from the treatments. He will try to gradually reduce the pain medications as the armpit area heals over the next month.
We really don't know what to make of the news other than it is good for the time being and the treatments seem to have "bought Mark some time". It appears that we are just completing "round one" and that it may be a while before "round two" starts but the doctors have never lead us to believe that it is curable and so to be "cancer free" and "treatment free" for a time is a relief.
We will try to update you again in a few weeks when we are better able to absorb this news. We may even try to pull off a trip to Puerto Rico in early December! Meanwhile, thanks so much for all the birthday cards, prayers and wonderful gifts Mark received for his birthday. On to the next year and the next fight...
This afternoon, Gary accompanied us to the oncologist who agreed that the cancer seems to be gone and you could consider it a"semi-remission" but he was not at all optimistic about how long that would be the case. He thinks it is still there in some places but not visible on the scan. It is still stage four squamous cell cancer. Today's results are the best that we could hope for following the treatments Mark already had but the cancer is sure to reappear elsewhere. He will have a follow up CT scan and revisit the issue in early February.
Mark ended up back in the emergency room last weekend due to the severe pain from the burn area under his arm but the rest of the radiated area has healed extremely well. He is still in bed a lot of the time due to the high dosage of pain medications for the raw burn in his armpit but was put on a new pain medication last weekend specifically for nerve endings that has helped more than other pain relievers
The oncologist reiterated that the radiation and chemo Mark had were EXTREMELY aggressive and would have killed someone who was older and not in top shape physically. Mark said he thought they WERE going to kill him some of the time! It will still take a while for the skin situation to be repaired and for him to recover from the treatments. He will try to gradually reduce the pain medications as the armpit area heals over the next month.
We really don't know what to make of the news other than it is good for the time being and the treatments seem to have "bought Mark some time". It appears that we are just completing "round one" and that it may be a while before "round two" starts but the doctors have never lead us to believe that it is curable and so to be "cancer free" and "treatment free" for a time is a relief.
We will try to update you again in a few weeks when we are better able to absorb this news. We may even try to pull off a trip to Puerto Rico in early December! Meanwhile, thanks so much for all the birthday cards, prayers and wonderful gifts Mark received for his birthday. On to the next year and the next fight...
# posted by The Sheehan Family @ 1:47 PM 
