9.13.2024
Friday the 13th surrounded in superstition, just seems to be the perfect day for a blog update. In the last post I celebrated the final R-CHOP chemo treatment. On September 4th I had another PET scan. A PET scan is a type of nuclear medicine imaging. A small and safe amount of radioactive material, called radiotracers are given through an IV. Diseased cells in the body absorb more of the radiotracer than healthy ones do. These are called “hot spots.” The PET scanner detects this radiation and produces images of the affected tissue. And the “hot spots” will show up as bright in the image. I originally had two hot spots, one under my left arm pit and one around my abdomen. The PET scan I had on September 4th had mixed results. The spot under my left armpit is no longer detected as a hot spot. However, the spot near my abdomen was still coming back as a hot spot. After discussing the results with my oncologist, Dr. Letzer, he stated a biopsy was necessary to determine if the area still contained any cancer cells or if something else was causing the area to show up hot. There is also the possibility that the area is showing up as hot due to the activity of the trial drug interacting with the cells. So a biopsy of that area was scheduled for Thursday, September 12.
The biopsy results will determine what path is taken going forward. If the biopsy would come back and show cancer cells still present. I would end my time in the Clinical Trial and move into a new treatment called CAR-T therapy. Short version of this treatment is they take some of my white blood cells, send them to a lab and the T-cells are modified with an immunotherapy drug and send back into my blood to attack the cancer cells. The link has more info, but it’s pretty amazing stuff!
If the biopsy comes back with no cancer found, I would continue with the clinical trial and have two more shots of the trial drug, three weeks apart and then follow up visits as the trial requires.
The biopsy went well yesterday. The technology for such things always amazes me. Prior to the procedure they needed to take a CT scan to locate my bowel in relation to the area targeted for the biopsy. Fun Fact: did you know your bowel can move around? Yes, it’s true. It’s kind of floppy. Who knew? But I digress. After the CT we had to wait for the doctor to read it and determine if the bowel wasn’t in the way and there was a clear path to the targeted area. During that waiting period, the nurse who was prepping me for the procedure did say the scan showed the area had gotten significantly smaller from the previous scan a few weeks ago. We both considered that very good news. It will probably take a couple of days to get the biopsy results. Until then we wait and pray for more good news.
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