Latest Scan Results

FYI: This is Carrie again updating for Jason...

We went to UAB yesterday (Friday) for blood work, CT scan, and to meet with my doctor. And We actually got better news than we were expecting. After last weeks scare in the ER, we were already prepared for some of the news we received yesterday and were actually expecting much worse. My blood work came back fine - none of my numbers were in any danger at all. The CT scan showed where the main tumor, which is in my left adrenal gland grew about 1-1.5 cms since last scan, which isn't that bad considering the size of it. The scan showed the spot in my vena cava hasn't grown (Praise the Lord!!) and staying stable. They did, however, find one small new spot close to my adrenal gland that is new, but the dr said it's so small, they aren't concerned about it too much. She is concerned though that there is a new spot. Even though it's a small spot, it means the chemotherapy isn't completely working and my body is resisting it. So... she has decided to change treatment plans again. For right now, I am no longer doing chemotherapy infusions. There is a capsule called Sutent that is typically used in renal (kidney) cancer that has been shown to work in a few adrenal cancer cases. I will take it for 4 weeks on, 2 weeks off, then repeat. This medicine differs in chemotherapy in the fact that chemo tries to actually shrink the tumor, where as this medicine tries to simply keep it from growing. **My dr did say however in one of those cases, the tumor shrunk 30% so maybe it will still shrink it!!** The only issue is this medicine is VERY expensive and hard to get covered. She's pretty positive that the insurance will deny coverage, after which point she said she will go directly to the manufacturer to try and get it covered. But overall, yesterday's report was better than we had hoped so praise the Lord.

As you know, I had some discomfort last week leading up to my visit to the ER. They didn't find anything out of the ordinary during that visit, but I still continued to have some mild to moderate discomfort/pain since then. It has mostly been in my abdomen, but also started to migrate to my right side and around to my back. It isn't too bad in the morning, but as the day progresses and I move around and am more active, it starts to bother me in the early evening. After the scans yesterday, my dr isn't sure where the pain is coming from, since nothing showed up on the scan that would indicate the problem. So, she gave me a RX for a pain patch called duragesic to take and she referred me to an radiology oncologist in Birmingham. She's hopeful that he can possibly pinpoint the pain and radiate it to eliminate it. She said it could be just a nerve is getting hit at the right spot to cause it, but she really doesn't know. I'm going to UAB next Tuesday June 15 to see him and see what he says so we'll keep you posted.

Thank you to everyone who has kept us in your prayers. We can never thank you enough for uplifting us and keeping us in your thoughts.