Woohoo!

It's a double blog day, because we got a double dose of good news.

We met with the Interventional Radiologist this morning. Actually we met with his assistant since the doctor is working late shifts this week. But, by chance the doctor called in while we were meeting with his assistant and I had a chance to talk to the doctor over the phone.

In a nutshell, this doctor is willing to go after the tumors, three in the liver and one in the upper left lung. He has three different methods available to choose from. Cryo ablation involves inserting a needle into the tumor and freezing it. Radiofrequency ablation involves inserting a needle into the tumor and burning it with sound waves. Chemoembolization, the third technique, utilizes a catheter run into the thigh and up into the tumors to release chemotherapy directly to the tumors.

It sounds like the last option may be the one they'll use for kidney cancer that has spread to the liver. Then it sounds like after six-weeks they may use one of the other techniques on the tumor in the lung.

The expectation is that tumors will reappear, somewhere, someday. But the goal is to take care of immediate threats and extend life.

Sounds good to me. We had a very good meeting and will be following up in the days and weeks to come. The doctor and his assistant were very knowledgeable, very upbeat and very amicable, and in general nice to work with.

When we got home we got some even better news. My family doctor received the results of yesterday's CT scan and left a message for me saying that the scan showed very positive results.

I followed up with a call to him, which he surprisingly was able to take, and it appears that it is true. All four of my tumors had shrunk after only four-weeks of Torisel chemo, and they shrunk rather significantly.

I don't have all the exact measurements yet. But I'll pick them up tomorrow when I go for my weekly chemo treatment. I'll take yet another needle stick and IV set-up gladly tomorrow - because it seems to be working and working well.