Test Results

Emily's PET scan and MRI came back clear.  The cancer cells seem to be confined to the lymph nodes in her armpit and it looks like they are the same type of cells as before.  Since her cancer seems to be biologically resistant to chemo, they are sending some of her tissue to a company that tests for drug resistance.  This will help them identify what drugs, if any, would have the best chance of killing this thing. In the meantime, her doctor is recommending surgery to remove the affected nodes, followed by radiation.  It doesn't look like chemo is going to be involved this time around, which is great.  Emily is planning to meet with several different doctors and specialists and research any and all treatment options available so she can make an informed decision about how to proceed.

Chapter Three

I have been planning to write a final blog post that would sum up the year that Emily has endured, complete with an optimistic view of the future.  Unfortunately, instead of closing the book on cancer, we have just started chapter three.  Last week, Em went to her oncologist for a routine 3 month follow up appointment and her doctor felt an unusually large lymph node in her armpit.  She went immediately in for an ultrasound and biopsy and was told that there were 3 nodes that were large and misshapen.  The biopsy report came back today and, once again, it is cancer.  So far that is all of the information that we have.  She goes in for yet another full body scan on Thursday morning and will hopefully have the results by the end of the week.

The nightmare continues.