Good News

Today was a day for follow-up doctor appointments. Almost completely good news.

We met with both the oncologist and the surgeon.

The surgeon is happy with her progress. She got out of the hospital following surgery faster than expected, and has recovered faster than most who undergo the surgery she experienced. Just a few more days (3 weeks from surgery to be exact) and she'll release her to continue chemo.

The oncologist had the best news, with a small dose of scary news. First, the good news.

She confirmed the tumor tissue removed during surgery shows 99+% necrosis. This means the chemo is WORKING. This is absolutely awesome to hear. She is very happy (as are we) with Harper's progress. She wants to start back up on chemo, as soon as the surgeon releases her. So, likely later next week.

The small dose of scary news is that we are starting to talk about using some radiation. Specifically, radiation of the area where the kidney was removed - to help ensure we get all of the tumor tissue in that area. Fortunately, no talk about radiation of the liver.

The liver lesions are also showing a big reduction in size. While I don't recall the exact dimensional sizes we discussed during the appointment, I would estimate that between the 2nd and 3rd CT scans we saw a 40% reduction in liver tumor size. This makes me very happy.

We also confirmed that her lungs are clear. Only 2 small spots were noted, and the radiologists think its probably scar tissue. We'll continue to watch them in future scans to see if they change at all.

All in all, things are looking very positive. We continue to read about others battling this and other cancers that are not seeing the success we are. We feel very lucky. While anything can still happen - right now things are going in the right direction.

Thank you to all who have supported us - financially, emotionally, and prayerfully. We're almost halfway through the treatment plan. Please keep it up and (hopefully) we'll be talking about clear scans in 18-20 weeks.