Yippee, No Chemotherapy!

Dale met with Dr. Anne Tsao (chemotherapy oncologist). She does not feel that chemotherapy is necessary for Dale's treatment. She defers treatment to Dr. Michael O'Reilly (radiation oncologist).

Dr. O'Reilly met with Dale and Jackie and laid out a plan of treatment for Dale aimed at destroying the cancerous tumor! Dale will begin 7 weeks of proton radiation therapy at MD Anderson on Mar. 24th. He will have another Brain MRI (3:30pm) and a simulation mapping scan Mar. 9th at 2:30pm. The mapping scan will further define the exact location of the tumor for the treatments.
Dr. O'Reilly discussed side effects and future scans to access the effectiveness of the treatment.

Dale was very relieved to not hear "Chemotherapy" in his treatment plan and is anxious to get the radiation treatments going soon. They will temporarily move to Pearland for the duration of the treatment, with weekends in Victoria is Dale feels up to the travel.

Biopsy Report

Dale's biopsy revealed a Squamous Cell Carcinoma in his chest. This is the same type cancer removed during resection in Dec. 2007. It was unclear from the biopsy report if this is a spread or a new tumor.

Jackie and Dale are headed to Pearland now, for tomorrow's appointments at MD Anderson.

Pet Scan findings

Pet Scan results showed a 3.7 cm x 2.9 cm lymph node in the middle of the chest (uptake 9.1 - for those who know what that means) and a small nodule in the lower left lung (uptake 3.8).
There were no other findings anywhere else in his body.

These findings confirm what was seen on the CT scan.

We are still waiting for the biopsy results.

Live update

At 6:50am, Dale was admitted to the Diagnosic Imaging - D center at the Alkek Building of MD Anderson. Jackie is with him as he gets prepped for today's Mediastinal biopsy. Procedure should take 1-1/2 hours, recover 3+ hours. I will update this post as the day progresses.

UPDATE:
Procedure took one hour. Recovery for 3 hours and then home to Pearland for the night. No pain from the procedure. We await word on the Pet Scan yesterday.

High Hopes

Today's Pet Scan was completed with no complications. Dale had a meeting with the Physician's Assistant for Dr. Madoff (interventional radiologist) who will do the Lung Biopsy tomorrow morning. Mostly that was a short physical and some discussion of possible complications.

Enjoying a few adult beverages at Rotary House this evening...up early in the morning for the biopsy.

Cross everything tonight!

Any nurses out there with a definition for us?

Not sure what this is, but Dale has one at 2:15pm on Thursday:

VIR PRE-PROCEDURE EVAL NEW LV2

Also, for those in the Houston area who'd like to join us for one or twenty cocktails Thursday evening. Dale, Jackie and I will be at the bar at the Jesse Jones Rotary House hotel (Marriott Hotel adjacent to MD Anderson) throwing back cold ones from 5:30pm Thursday until one of us falls off the bar stool! Then we'll carry that fallen friend to their hotel room for a good night's sleep!

See ya there!

It is what it is...

Dale rec'd word today at his semi-annual checkup that it appears his cancer has recurred. A 2cm tumor was found near his left lung. Further testing next week will confirm this diagnosis and set us on a plan of treatment based on the outcome of the tests.

Dale will have a Pet Scan on Thursday, Feb. 19th at MD Anderson at 11am. He will have a needle biopsy on Friday, Feb. 20th at 7am. He will meet with Dr. Anne Tsao (chemotherapy oncologist) at 10am on Feb. 25th and a Radiation Oncologist at 1:45pm...to determine which route for treatment will best benefit him. Additional surgery is not an option for him.

While this wasn't the news we had hoped to hear. We are hopeful that if this tumor is indeed another cancer, that it is a single tumor and that targeted radiation treatments can destroy it.

Dr. Rice assured Dale that his Spring Break cruise will go on as scheduled with any treatments occurring after the cruise.

Dale feels fine and his attitude is good. "It is, what it is", and we will deal with it.