A nerve-wracking wait and a huge thank you

Today I went to the University of Florida Cancer Center to see if I could get some help with my recovery and some better follow-up care. The doctor said my previous PET scan was done much too early, but she couldn’t tell from looking at it if the cancer was gone or not. Because of my unexpected sodium drop last week, I already had another PET scan scheduled for tomorrow, so I’m going to go ahead with it. I won’t have the results until Thursday.

The doctor said the PET scan will show one of three things: 1) the cancer is gone; 2) the cancer is still there but hasn’t progressed; 3) the cancer has progressed. If the cancer is gone, I go back in a month for a follow-up visit. If not, I can do chemo again (which has a very unlikely chance of being effective) or a clinical trial. Either way, there’s a high recurrence rate for this type of cancer, so they’re going to have to continue to monitor me closely.

The doctor said my cough could just be irritation from the radiation therapy, but she’ll know more after she gets the PET scan results. She said I should follow up with my ENT and have him take a look at my throat.

I’m still waiting for the speech therapist to come out. I called my primary care doctor today and they haven’t received a request for an order for me to start eating, so the nurse was going to call the speech therapist and ask for one. I was in too much pain to follow up with them last week, so I’ll do it tomorrow.

I want to thank everyone who has donated to my medical fund! Your contributions will help me keep the wolves at bay until I can get back to work. For those who’d still like to help me with my battle against cancer, please go to https://www.youcaring.com/julie-mears-henry-495041.