Sunday May 23, 2010

Here are the results of Charlie's CAT scan from about a week ago...Kim called to report that as of right now Charlie has 2 lesions. One in on the liver which has been there since initial diagnosis and is a little larger than it was on the last scan, it measures 1.2 cm. In addition there is now a new lesion on the lung and it measures 1.4 cm. Despite this not so great news, everything else in the way of lesions are all gone.

Kim was somewhat disappointed with the test results, but I reminded her that Charlie's tumor burden is a far cry from where he was back in January with metastasis to the lymph, bone and multiple lesions in the liver and lungs. She also said that he was started back on a new chemo agent called Navelbine. He had his first infusion of the Navelbine last Thursday and will return every 2 weeks for the next 2 months for the infusion. Also Charlie's hemoglobin was a bit low which may be part of the reason why he has been feeling a little more fatigued. He did get his shot to help boost the production of red blood cells (RBC). RBC are responsible for carrying oxygen to the body, so if they are low the oxygen supply is low thus resulting in a feeling of tiredness for the patient. His white blood cell (WBC) count remains at an optimal level...which is very important b/c when you are going thru chemo you become what is called immunosuppressed which means the body's ability to fight off any infection, even the most common types, is greatly compromised and these infections can snowball into larger problems.


Also in Charlie's favor is that his weight has been very stable...this is a good sign. Cancer patients who can maintain a healthy stable weight overall do much better in the long run.

Thank you for keeping Charlie and Kim in your prayers. Kim is so hoping that by the end of July Charlie will have a clean scan showing no more tumors and he will be off all treatments.