PET scan done ... results tomorrow?

I got my PET scan done today. They said my doc should have the results tomorrow ... we'll see.

It's been an eventful week in cancerland. Mostly not good, unfortunately. Tomorrow morning I will attend the funeral of my friend, Candie Jaeger, who died last week at the age of 32. Candie befriended me at the doctor's office on the day I was diagnosed with liver mets. As Alan and I sat shell-shocked in the treatment room, while my first dose of chemo for mets poured into my veins, Candie introduced herself - at the time, she was a nearly 7 year survivor - and gave us a pep talk. She talked about how she had beaten liver mets and how you have to keep fighting - never give up. And that's what she did, until last week, when she finally let go on her terms. She was a real inspiration to me and many others, and I will miss her very much.

I've had my own challenges this past week. Just as I finished up my second round of Xeloda and was looking forward to spending the weekend with my friends Shelby and Nicole, I was hit hard with another fun side effect. Let's just call it "tummy trouble". Along with tummy trouble came the inevitable nausea, so I spent most of my weekend in Birmingham not eating and near a bathroom. By the time I got home on Monday, I was pretty severely dehydrated, so Alan had to take me in for some IV fluids and a couple of shots to help with the tummy trouble. I was feeling better today, although still a bit dehydrated, so I went in for another liter of fluids. This evening, however, tummy troubles have returned with a vengeance, so I guess I'll spend my third day in a row tomorrow getting IV fluids at the doctor's office. It's what I need to do to avoid being hospitalized (yikes!). I did have a nice time with Shelby and Nicole, despite all the tummy troubles.

One bit of good news amid the bad is that my tumor markers have taken a huge nose dive! CA 27.29 is down to 53.9 from a high of 172.6 six weeks prior. We are hoping that this means that the SIR Spheres are doing their job. Tomorrow, hopefully, the PET results will support this theory. Stay tuned ...