Hello........
It's been a rough few weeks, I'm not gonna lie. Blake has been having horrible pain for quite some time now; in fact it started about 2 weeks after he began his chemo break last April. Because of the pain, we decided to move up his PET scan a few weeks to see what was going on. Sure enough, his scan was HORRIBLE! - probably the worst it's been - EVER. The scan showed many tumors with varying SUV's (SUV shows metabolic activity - the higher the number the more metabolically active.) Blake's initial tumor back in 2007 had an SUV of 10 (ish) and the tumors and lymph nodes since then have never been over 10. This scan showed tumors with SUV values all the way up to 45 - FORTY-FIVE! When I first looked at the report, I thought for sure it had to be a typo.... right? The Oncs office requested a review which confirmed 45. They even contacted GE to make certain the machine was calibrated correctly!
Blake had chemo #60 about 10 days ago. It's been a really rough round; he's been flat in bed at least 7 of the last 14 days and had to go to the cancer center 3 times for fluids. Jess reminded us that he was this sick after a chemo late last year and then rallied through the next several treatments. We can only be so lucky for that to be the case again - I truly don't think he can take another round like this last one. Which is worse, the disease or the treatment; it's a rough balancing act for sure.
Blake's scheduled for chemo again this Wednesday (9/5). Please send some positive thoughts & prayers our way-we could really use it!
Thanks & love to you all!
Kathy