Sunday, March 1, 2015

Bad news

This blog contains disturbing and alarming information, continue at your own risk.

It has been a long time since my last entry, but, “if you can’t write something nice, don’t write anything”. My Oct scan showed a small (4 mm) lesion on my lung..... worrisome, but not definite. Not wanting to cause unnecessary concern, I decided to wait for my next scan at the end of March.

Then came a small but persistent pain in my back. I generally do not worry about small pains, I am old after all, and assumed that it would go away with time. Not so this time...... the pain continued, and became annoying, enough to require an occasional pain pill.

Ok, I connected the dots moved my scan up to the end of Feb. I wanted to know before my annual pilgrimage to Pa. So..... many new and larger lesions on my lungs and liver. No question, the cancer had returned with a vengeance.  My condition is not operable, and not consistent with recovery. Without chemo treatment, my life expectancy is less than a year, with chemo, more than a year.

After I return from Pa. They will take a sample, and do “gnome” testing to help determine what kind of chemo is best. The goal is to shrink tumors and prolong life while maintaining a reasonable quality of life.

Of course, quality of life vs. quantity of life questions will need to be answered. It appears that it will be a fine line.

I never planned to live forever, but this is still a shock..... I plan to update this blog as soon as my thoughts settle down.