My life since metastatic osteosarcoma diagnosis October 2002. I am Audra, a 34 yr old female. My husband is Glen and our 6+ year old daughter is Angela.
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Sunday, August 17, 2003
Humm...been a long time huh?
I won't even guess at the dates but here's the latest update on Audra.
After a battery of tests, Audra went to see the oncologist in early August to get the test results. Audra was feeling pretty well going into the doctor's visit, particularly in her recuperation from the hip surgery. We were however well aware of multiple tumor in her body and the partially removed tumor in her brain. Yah, remember that? I kept reminding Audra that despite the news we were expecting, she was actually feeling pretty well. Truth is we were both expecting bad news.
After an extremely long wait while the doctor poured through a stacks of MRI's and readings, he believes that everything looked pretty much the same as her tests about 3 1/2 months prior. One exception however was her upper move vertebrae which was reportedly showing new tumor. As the doctor put it, that vertebrae at the top is pretty important. It's the one that holds you head on. This guys a real trip. He told us that if any of the tumors in her spine grow, particularly the ones opposite her neck, and the tumor begins to press against the spinal cord and her esophagus, she would be like Christopher Reeves except she would not be breathing. Honest, that's what he said. Strangely enough, we all laughed. I think we were laughing at the fact that he said it. That may not be funny to you reading this update, but its still funny to us in some stomach-knotting kind of way.
So that tumor at the top of her spine sent us from Dr. Rosen's office right back to the radiation oncologist's office. An unannounced office visit with and a long wait. The radiation oncologist is a super nice guy, Dr. Ng (pronounced "Ing"). He's the oriental version of Doogie Howser. He once stopped Audra in the hallway to ask how she was feeling (he was not in his white jacket yet) and I thought he was the Chinese food delivery guy. Nonetheless he's a super nice guy and seems to always willing to accommodate Audra. This day was no exception. He did note that Audra has had so much radiation to her spine that hitting this last vertebrae and avoiding the other areas was not going to be a text book treatment.
Audra has subsequently started her 10 radiation treatments. Her last treatment was on Thursday, 8/14 at 8:30am in NYC. It was later that afternoon that the power went out in the northeast. Luckily she and her father was in and out of the city by 12 noon. Thank goodness she had an early appointment. The prior week she stayed overnight with her girlfriend Lois because she had an afternoon appointment followed by a morning appointment.
Aside from some have it/don't have it appetite issues, she's doing fairly well. Besides the radiation she's going back to see the neuro-surgeon to see if he thinks anything can/should be done to the tumors on the spine. Audra said that even if he wants to do surgery, she's not sure she'll agree. She's said that before and still went through with it. We'll see.
That's it for now. Thanks for reading.
Sunday, August 17, 2003
|
|
| |
|
|
|
