Today was a big day for us here In Rochester. We had the results of a scan interpreted to us by our main oncologist doctor.

To recap, I’d been on an oral, chemotherapy dose of 2 strong drugs that the research teams at Mayo were able to match genetically with the particular type of “small-cell” cancer I have. This meant that for the past 5 weeks, my treatment is nothing more than taking 2 pills in the morning and 1 at night, which would essentially “shrink” the cancer wherever it is in my body. Each person reacts differently so we didn’t know what sort of side effects I would have, how quickly it would work, or honestly, if it would work at all. The only way to find to is to try. Then, at the end of 6 weeks, do a CT scan and evaluate. 

So here we are. I have 2 pictures here from that scan. 

The scans are taken as if I were cut into .75mm thick slices like a tree.

You are looking up from my feet. 

In the shots below, you have the 2 lungs in black and the spine, organs, and other arteries in the center in white. Notice how the left picture (July 1) looks much more crowded than the right (Sept 17). All of that milky looking white part that you no longer see in the right picture is cancer. Notice how much more clear and open the lungs are in the right photo. 

The picture below is taken from the same vantage point and same dates. This shot is further up toward my head. I asked for this one because I wanted to see a shot of the largest tumor, “before and after”.

The scan said it went from 5.5mm to 3.6mm, but what does that look like? 

In both pictures, I marked the tumor with a yellow square. The white squiggly-shaped area to the left of the tumor in the left shot and the circular-shaped area, also to the left of the tumor in the right shot, show a “before and after” picture of an artery coming into the heart. Notice how it’s nearly totally collapsed by the tumor in the left shot and wide-open in the right!

This is great news! We are praying things keep going like this. Of course there are snags along the way and the fevers this weekend are an example of that. Most of the time, I don’t feel great at all and I hope the feelings and symptoms change as the cancer decreases.

As for the pause in the meds, we’re resuming treatment Monday, pending a spike in my liver levels that showed a little concern today. Each patient responds differently to treatment and I wonder why I didn’t have fevers up until now. The Doc said he has seen patients taking the same meds where one has a totally different set of side effects than the next. I am unique, so we try a pause and resume. Hopefully, we get another 5 weeks of treatment without fever. If we do have to deal with the fever, we react to it and hope to be able to keep going. 

After all, the best 2 words the Doc said today were, “IT’S WORKING!”

Of course who are praying people know God is the healer and in this case, he has given these research doctors the desire and skill to work on solutions for these problems that have baffled doctors from the beginning up until now. I am so thankful for whatever way God chooses to work. Even 10 years ago, these chemo drugs didn’t exist. 

Thank you Jesus!