Keep on keeping on...

We have been to Rochester, and we are already back again.  The news was pretty good.  Monday the 7th, I had blood drawn and another MRI.  The following afternoon we met with Dr. Banck again as well as the surgeon Dr. Farnell.

As far as report goes, my blood work still looks great.  All liver enzymes, red, white counts are normal. The MRI continues to show shrinkage of the lesions.  There are approximately 5 visible lesions in my right liver lobe and 1 visible in the left lobe.  I specify visible because we cannot discount any microscopic lesion that may have shrunk down that we can no longer see via imaging.  Doctors Banck and Farnell posed the option for surgery.  At this time, the plan would be considered "debulking" the disease.  What that would entail is resecting the entire right lobe of my liver.  That would take away all disease in that lobe.  The lesion in my left lobe would be wedged out as well.  The liver is regenerative to some extent, so though the right lobe would be gone, the left lobe would double in size eventually. However, we cannot discount any lesions that may still be present in the left that are too microscopic to see at this time.  Also, the nodule near my pancreas is still shrinking, but may not be operable due to its positioning.  One of the lumbar lesions that was previously ill-defined and non-enhancing is no longer visible on the MRI.  The other remains, but it is still non-enhancing and ill-defined.

The surgical option was a lot to take in.  I asked Dr. Banck if continuing the medication regimen for another 3 months would be an option and see what the options would be at that time.  She states that there really is no set treatment plan for this type of cancer, so she feels that continuing meds is certainly a viable option as my body seems to tolerate the regimen so well.  She appears confident that whichever path we decided, we would continue to be moving in the right direction.

I have decided to keep going with the medications at this time, and we will readdress surgery in 3 months.  I know that ultimately we will be resorting to surgery, but I would like to give the meds a little more time to keep working.  I would also like to hold off on surgery until Arya is at least a year old. We are all happy and comfortable with the decision.

So life goes on as usual in the Ekvall household.  Arya is wonderful and keeps amazing me everyday. Tim's job is going great and has been more than accommodating with our revolving appointment schedule.  I take every day as it comes with my family.