Bye

The PET scan results are out. They are much more filled with medical jargon than the last time, which makes them even more difficult to read by a non-professional like me. Still, I make an effort. They seem to be saying the following:

• My greatest fear - that my cancer is resistant to hormonal therapy - seems to be ungrounded. Of course, it will eventually become so - but, at least for now, it is responding well to the therapy.
• The main tumor is gone.
• The metastasis in the lymph node is gone too.
• The "inconclusive" thing in the rib is no longer inconclusive - it's a fucking cancer metastasis; no doubts about it. However, its size has been reduced by half.

Neither of the two oncologists is available for immediate consultation, so I have no choice but to head home. Once there, I fire an e-mail to the young and helpful one, telling him that the results are out, what my reading of them is, and ask whether I am correct and how we should proceed further.

Surprisingly, an hour later he personally calls me on the phone. There are good news and bad news.

The good news is that the cancer is indeed responding well to the hormonal therapy for now and we should continue with it. The bad news is that the main tumor is not gone - it just no longer accumulates radioactive solution, so it's not visible to the scanner. Time for phase 2 - radiotherapy of the main tumor.

The oncologist doesn't do that; there are radiologists who will decide how much I need, how many times, and when. He takes a note that the next time I visit him for the next dose of pills (March 17) he should take me to the radiologists for consultation. This is all for now.