A Mixed Bag of News this Week

I had four doctors' appointments this week--all of them related in one way or another to my 2009 cancer, my treatments and the resulting side effects.  Most important and best news first--the PET scan showed No Evidence of Disease, either in the primary area or any place above my hips.  That means I am now six years with NED, and the lead oncologist says that he'll order no more PET scans in the future unless there is a certain need for them down the road.  I'll now get annual CT scans instead.

Those Deadheads out there will recognize this adjusted chorus from a certain song:

N-E-D, N-E-D
Ain't no letters I'd rather see
Doc checked the scan and said to me--
Mike, you're N-E-D!

The news from the oral surgeon wasn't quite that good, and will lead to more wait-and-see about any further surgery on my jaw.  Some of the news from him was good--he was able to wiggle out the growing bone shard in my jaw--and it was trophy-shard big.  That's good news because it means my body is fighting off additional necrosis, so if the soft tissue covers over the area where the dead bone came from, no more surgery will be needed in that specific location. If the necrosis continues or gets larger, then we could be looking at a partial re-do of the major jaw surgery. He is also a bit concerned about a small area just on the right side and under of my chin that is oozing some puss and blood on a pretty regular basis.  It is likely that one of the surgical screws is infected so he prescribed some antibiotics for me.  If those don't do the trick, I'll have some outpatient surgery in late December or early January to replace the screw--thus the wait-and-see decision.

So, please send Good Vibes that both of these issues don't escalate into more surgery--especially the possible larger procedure.

While we had a lot of good news this week, we also got some bad news that Deb Pangrazi's cancer has returned.  She had ovarian cancer in 2010 (see January 15, 2010 posting) and put up a great battle to survive it.  The docs now say she has chest or lung cancer and they are doing the early diagnostic work to get a better picture so they can start treating it soon.  Please, please send her and her husband Bob the best Team Mike Good Vibes you can muster--we are fearing the worst from this news.

Mike