Day + 55 Pet Scan Results & Radiation Plan

I met with Dr. Wilke (Radiation Oncologist) this morning regarding my PET/CT Scan from the University of Sherbrooke Hospital. We only have the written report so far......they are being much too slow for my liking sending out a copy of the CD with the pictures.....

Unfortunately, my scan appears to still show a reading of 10 SUV (standardized uptake value)in the residual mass in my chest. This means, that there is probably still cancer activity in my tumour. The upside, is that nothing irregular shows up anywhere else in my body. The Pet Scan I had on March 17th had an SUV of 16.....therefore there is a decrease.....
Obviously, I wanted there to be "0" SUV.......we just continue to fight!

Dr. Wilke's plan of action, is to treat me with a total of45 Gray (A measure of absorbed radiation dose. One Gray equals 100 rads, in the older terminology) over 25 treatments. These treatments will occur twice a day for 2 1/2 weeks. He feels that because my lymphoma is being a resistant bugger, that it is better to attack it quickly & hard.....don't give it a chance to multiply. My treatments will be approximately 6 hours apart....therefore, I will go to the hospital first thing in the morning & again at the end of the day. Even if my Pet Scan came back negative for cancer cells, Dr. Wilke was still going to radiate.....the difference being that he would have treated with a dose of 36 gray, once a day for 20 treatments.

The size of my tumour is now: 1.6cmx2.3cmx1.9cm....this is smaller than a CT scan showed on May 25th after my 2 high dose chemos.....I only have 2 measurements on that tumour of: 1.7cmx3.1cm. This indicates that the Stem Cell transplant still did something to the size of the tumour.

Dr. Wilke is hoping to start my Radiation Therapy (RT) next Monday or Tuesday. He really wants to get the CD of my PET Scan in his hands first.....
I also have the "Best Doctors" organization working on getting another copy of the CD for their doctor to evaluate and make recommendations for my case.

Dr. Wilke feels that there is an 80% chance that the radiation will kill the cancer cells in the tumour in my chest.....the concern will be if any cancer cells decide to find their way to another place in my body.....this is why we need to act quick with the RT.
A couple of positive things to mention are:
first, that in the year since my initial diagnosis, my lymphoma has stayed localized &
second, my tumour is the smallest is has ever been.....so hopefully, the radiation will do its job & kill the remaining cells AND that will be the end of it!!

Other than what I have mentioned above, I also had my markings done today. Basically, I had to lay on the table of a CT Scan machine on top of a plastic bag with foam beads inside. This bag (called a VacLock) is used to make a mold of my upper body....air suction is used to help mold the shape. I have been through this procedure twice before....but we hadn't followed through with radiation treatments yet. This time I did not have tattoos as they were able to use the tattoo markings from previous sessions. There are 4 tatoos kind of like the 4 points of a compass. They are just very small black dots...like a pen mark. These dots are used to position my body for accuracy...so that my radiation treatments will hit the correct location of the treatment area......this is basically in the center of the 4 black dots.
Once I was lined up & molded the movable table ran in & out of the tubular shape machine....Dr. Wilke was behind a window, operating the controls that allowed him to set up my field for my future RT's.
Next week, I will go to a different machine to receive my actual treatments. Each treatment will consist of one shot to the front of my chest & one shot in my back....both radiating the area of my tumour. ( I have been told that they are about 2 minutes each)
I will of course provide more details as they happen.

Well, that is about all I have to report today.....I have certainly had better days....but it isn't all bad...& we have to hope that the radiation will finish of the job.