Making Good Progress

I had a PET Scan on Monday at the BC Cancer Agency and got the results from my Oncologist yesterday.  The long and short of it is we are making good progress and the scan basically confirms the clinical situation which is generally much improved.

I have been virtually "pain-free" for the last month and have been able to stop the morphine and other pain killers that have been part of my daily diet since September.  This represents significant improvement 

There were no surprises in the PET Scan.  The lungs, liver, and lymph systems are all clear.  There is no evidence of "soft-tissue tumours" at all.  There is still a low level of activity in the sacrum.  It registered very low in terms of FDG uptake but still a bit higher than normal.

Dr. Klimo is very pleased with the results and wants to stay the course with Erbitux treatment. According to my oncologist Erbitux is technically NOT a chemo.  I guess by that he means it is not a conventional cyto-toxic chemo.  Rather it is a "targetted growth inhibitor".  Whatever!  It seems to work well for me.  I call it the chemo that is NOT a chemo.  It still comes complete with an array of nasty side-effects though!

Here is an interesting story about Dr. Klimo and one of his patients.  Paul Klimo Story The patient in the story is on the same treatment that I am.  I am hoping for the same outcome!

Ever hopeful... Rob; in Vancouver

“Medical science has proven time and again
that when the resources are provided,
great progress in the treatment, cure,
and prevention of disease can occur.”

Michael J. Fox

The Colonoscopy - Peter Yarrow