We met with the German oncologist again today, Professor Doctor Link (yes, I wrote that correctly). He was very nice. He met with the other specialists in the hospital yesterday for their 'cancer board' to discuss all the new and existing patients and recommend treatments and adjustments to treatments. He told us that, based on the CT from Landstuhl and the other documents that we provided, there is no metastasis! He thinks the 'abnormalities' on the CT are too small to biopsy. He recommends that we do a scintigraphy (some kind of detailed bone scan) and that we repeat the CT, but in the German hospital. That way, we can confirm the scan from Landstuhl and update it with the German scan with their better resolution capability.
So, Wendi will do the scintigraphy tomorrow. The CT is scheduled for Monday. We were concerned about getting all the results back and staying on course with our chemo schedule for next Wednesday. He understood our sense of urgency and set up an appointment with him on Tuesday so we can discuss the results of the CT the day before. Not bad for a Germany hospital! He said if the results aren't officially ready, he will get the verbal from the radiology and thus keep us on track for Wednesday.
We want to get going on that chemo - kinda... Wendi met with the women from the local breast cancer support group last night and they were honest in giving her the low-down on chemo. We want to hear the straight story, but it was hard for Wendi to listen to their tales of wo. It's not pretty. Maybe we'll share some of them later. She came back a little shell-shocked. It took a couple of hours for her to open up and share what she had heard. Chemo is no picnic and she is in for a very rough ride. This will be huge burden on her and the family. So, yay, we get to do chemo next week....
We called the Landstuhl peeps and they are OK with us staying on track for Wednesday. Of course, something could come up. If the CT shows something unusual, or worse/larger than previously thought, we may delay for a biopsy or something. Hoping we're OK though.
Thanks to everyone for your love and support.
Mark K.
It's great that all your doctors seem to be giving the same answers as far as treatments. That would make it really tough if you had to try and figure out for yourself what her treatment course should be. That was an interesting observation you'd made earlier about being treated by a German doctor on the anniversary of D-Day. Peace and forgiveness is a wonderful thing. Hoping for peace for your family at this difficult time. We're rooting for you. Love to your fam and tell Jenna congratulations on graduation. She looked great in the picture you posted earlier.
ReplyDeleteLove and prayers for your family right now. This blog is wonderful, thank you for sharing and taking the time to write about this.
ReplyDeleteThinking of you everyday Wend and praying for you, Mark and the kids. Just remember that God sends his hardest battles to his toughest soldiers...you are definitely one tough soldier.
ReplyDeleteYou have a huge support group behind you all the way....you can make it through anything dear friend.
You are an example of courage and strength and most importantly...faith.
I love you and will keep all of you close in my heart, thoughts and every prayer!!!