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What I did not let everyone in on at that time was that the PET scan from last Friday and the subsequent MRI done in the hospital on Thursday showed that there were several other areas that the cancer is in her body. It showed activity in the tissue around her ovaries, in the bone of the pelvic region and at the base of her neck, just at the top of her spine. They are performing additional tests to try and find out where the source of her cancer is located. They think of lung cancer but it is very unusual for lung cancer to spread to these other areas, but it is very likely that if the source is elsewhere for it to spread to the lung area. Laura has a horrible cough, she almost can’t speak.
Below are Laura's words of what part of the process that we will follow:
My art friend, Wendy, has come to the rescue. Her husband is a partner with a doctor in Nashville who invented a technology that determines exactly what chemo the specific cancer will respond to. They founded a company, DiaTech Oncology, to give patients and doctors access to this technology. There are 2 or 3 other cancer research centers in the US that do the opposite. They tell you which three or four drugs will not work.
Last Wednesday, DiaTech picked up the biopsies to do their test on my cancer. They called my oncologist yesterday telling that the laboratory had a match. They have found two drugs to which my tumor will respond!!!!!
So, I'm not sure how the oncologist will react to this. He has worked with them one other time and it was a complete success. But utilizing new technology over his patient and giving him the dosage lay out to use is going to be another thing. Please pray that he will open his mind to this.
Can you tell the excitement in her words? Praise God for placing people in the right places for each of us!!
We went to the oncologist this morning (Tuesday) and to say it went completely smooth would be an over statement. There were some uncomfortable moments going through the things Laura described above, however we believed strongly in the DiaTech’s technology. I believe the biggest difference between doctors was their opinions of the Laura’s cancer source. The final diagnosis that came from pathologists was melanoma, not lung cancer as her oncologist originally thought. The drugs recommended by DiaTech were very unusual for treatment of melanoma. Laura’s oncologist did however agree to administer the treatments recommended by DiaTech under the other doctors' guidance. Yeah God!! Laura is to start treatments on Monday, 08/08/05. The first treatment is set to last 6 to 8 hours and then they will proceed every 3 weeks thereafter.
October 6, 2005
Laura had her scans and the first part of her chemo treatment yesterday and finished up this morning. We did get the results back from the scans and although they were not everything that we had prayed for, we did get positive signs. YEAH GOD!!! The scans of the head, spine and pelvis area did not reveal any signs of new growth or spreading. That is good. The treatments have stopped the progress. PRAISE GOD!!! The scan of the chest area had some of the same news except for one of the tumors in her left lung. Originally the largest tumor had measurements of 6cm x 5cm or 30 sq cm, now that particular tumor measures 5cm x 3cm or 15 sq cm, a reduction in mass area of 50%. Her cough has almost gone!!! PRAISE GOD!!!!
This is not totally what the doctor was looking for, but he believes that we are headed in the right direction. So we are holding the course and continuing the treatments without any changes. Thank you for your prayers and we see their results daily. Laura is feeling better and is excited with the scan results. OUR GOD IS AN AWESOME GOD! He knows just what we need at just the right time. After last week he knew that this news is just what Laura needed to hear. We sometimes want instant results, just because of the world we live in. However, things WILL BE TAKEN CARE OF according to HIS PLAN not ours.
October 29, 2005
I went to the doctor yesterday and had the 4th chemo treatment. The doctor said that I was in REMISSION!!!!! Yeah God!!!! Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers, Laura.
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