Whew!

1 1/2 years of cancer treatment: $360,000

Gas to and from 245 doctors appointments: $1,200

Trip to Hippocrates Health Institute: $15,000

A body scan that finally produced good results: PRICELESS!

It has been 5 weeks since Emily finished radiation and she had yet another full body scan last Friday.  For the first time since she was diagnosed, she received some positive test results.  Her scan came back clear!  She gets a three month break and will have another scan in August, just to check a few little spots that were inconclusive on this test.  After that, she need only have two more clear scans before she is considered cancer free!

Congratulations on the great news, Em!  We are so happy for you!

Hear Ye, Hear Ye

After Emily's last radiation treatment, she received this certificate of completion.  I thought it was very clever and uplifting so here it is for all to see.  You can click on the image to make it bigger.

Fried!

After 4 1/2 weeks of daily radiation, Emily is officially a crispy critter. The areas around her collar bone and under her arm are such a deep, angry red that it seems almost purple.  She is also blistering and peeling at the same time.  Since she is so dramatically burned, her doctor has given her this week off from treatment and they are hoping to finish the last 7 sessions starting next week.

We have no information as to the next course of treatment once radiation is complete.  Let's all keep our fingers crossed that this is it and she can get back to business as usual!

Radiation Update

To my surprise, Emily says that radiation is no big deal.  She has completed 9 out of 33 visits and has no ill effects so far.  Her doctor says that she won't notice anything for the first 3 weeks so I will update the site when and if anything changes!

Tattoos and Test Results

It has been another busy month in Emily’s cancer battle.  After she had the newly affected lymph nodes removed in December, she had to wait extra time for all of the pathology to be completed because of the Arctic Blast.  When the results finally came back we found out that it was the same type of cancer cells as before, but with some mutations.  The tissue samples for the drug resistance testing couldn’t be released until the pathology was done so that testing was seriously delayed and we still have no results.  As far as the specialist in Boston is concerned, it turns out that she does not do phone consultations so if Em wants her opinion, she will have to travel across the country for an appointment.  She is still deciding whether or not to take that trip. 

Emily has decided to pursue radiation as her next course of treatment.  She will go in for a dose every day (M-F) for six weeks, starting this Wednesday.  In order to do radiation, the doctors put a little tattoo mark on the skin in the area to be treated.  Em had to get 4 tattoo dots last week and she was surprised by the how much those little dots hurt.  She said that every part of her body wanted to jump right off of the table to get far away from the needle!  Her teenage desire to get a tattoo is now officially squelched.