The Latest Round

Yesterday found us in Cleveland for the next round of appointments. Once again, labwork was good; scans were stable. Lesions in the liver appear to be stable; the lesion in the right lung continues to increase in volume but not in size. I wish I knew more about the mechanisms of tumor growth so that I can understand better what this means. At this point I know that Dr. G is not concerned about it, so we're staying with the current regimen of Nexavar and attendant medications. Dr. G is pleased enough, in fact, that I'm not scheduled for the next set of scans until November! I've been on a 2-month schedule since January 2006, when I started on Nexavar. Somehow it feels like a "great leap forward".

I worked with a new nurse for the C/T who asked, "Have you had a C/T scan before?" When I stopped giggling, I started mentally adding up how many scans I've had since 2000. By my estimation I've had at least 46, and there are probably more that I don't remember that took place in hospital or under emergency conditions. I'd like to say, "That should be enough for anyone" but I know I'll have to keep up with them for the rest of my life. Hmm, 2 450-ml bottles of Redi-Cat barium sulfate solution for each test - translate that into gallons and that's enough to kill my appetite permanently.

Saint H spent part of last weekend mowing and raking the last of the hay, and our buddy Rex arrived Monday night to bale it. He finished up about half an hour before storms hit; talk about making hay while the sun shines! We ended up with just short of 11 tons of hay - not bad for the first effort. We should get at least one more cutting off before the season's over.