While I was in WA, Phil finished a second round of chemo. His mother and brother David stayed with him and saw him through the down days. He had no complications, thank you Jesus, and managed to go on some sightseeing outings with his Mom toward the end of the cycle. He is scheduled to start a third round with the nelardapine this Wednesday/Friday/Monday.
Phil had a bone marrow biopsy yesterday and it was quite the painful experience. That is actually a good thing in his case. It suggests that he has nice hard bones and not diseased lymphoma growing in there. Dr. Kossman said as much and confirmed this when he was finished with the procedure - having had to take two, not one, core sample from Phil's pelvis. OUCH. OUCH. The final pathology results will take a few days to return but from the sample Dr. Kossman took the tissue looked fine and felt like cortical bone (synonymous with compact bone, it supports the whole body, protects the organs, stores and releases chemical elements such as calcium, etc). This is exactly what we wanted to hear!!
Today Phil will be having a PET/CT scan to re-stage his cancer. The PET scan images the biology of disorders at the molecular level while the CT scan provides a detailed picture of the body's internal anatomy. Together they give pinpoint information about the cancer's activity and guide decisions regarding treatment. We want to hear that all is clear and Phil is in remission again. He will complete this third round of chemo and then...
We'll be having a conference with Kossman on that soon. Everything has changed since he relapsed and with this new chemotherapy. Once we know where he stands with the new cancer staging we'll know what comes next, what to expect for the longer term picture. Stay tuned Team Conrad and thanks for being with us this far!
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