Tumor Update!

Ty had his 1 year tumor follow up appointment today. Basically the scan showed no change (neither increase nor decrease) in tumor size. Which is really great news - although a little disappointing, as it is the first time since last March that the tumor has not shown shrinkage. This is only a little worrisome because I have been having to cath him more lately. That is exactly what happened during the 6 months leading up to us discovering the tumor. The doc is very much encouraged that his tumor is stabilizing and we are scheduling to have his chemo port come out during the surgery in August.

I froze a screen shot from today's scan so you can see overall just how far he's come. Today the tumor measured 11.6 x 8 x 2.6 cm - it is outlined in red, and that's roughly the size of two pancakes, stacked. When you look at scan images, imagine the patient is sitting or lying facing you (so your left is his right, and vice versa) The white highlighted portions are parts of his pelvis/hips and spine.

In February of 2007, it measured 18cmx16.5cmx11.5cm - also outlined in red, and that's about the size of a bowling ball (or a very round NFL football). At this point, his right kidney was freaking out and causing him to have high blood pressure - think 179/97 and he had to go on medication to block the signals from his kidney. His internal organs were smooshed over to his left side, and it made him very uncomfortable and nauseous. Poor thing, he could only lay down at that point. Finally, the chemo kicked in when we switched types, and after four cycles it had already showed significant shrinkage.

Here's hoping next year holds even better news!