A Work In Progress

A Work In Progress

Thursday, October 6, 2016

Update: Praising Our Gracious God For Scott's PET Scan Results! :-)

Journal entry by Debbie Heiman — 5 hours ago
I am so pleased to report that there is no evidence of disease anywhere besides the liver. Even better news is that the SUV (standardized uptake value) has decreased in his liver tumors.


1 is the baseline/normal level for the SUV. Anything greater than 2.5 can indicate metastatic cancer activity. I have 2 examples from Scott's PET scan to help you better understand where we are.

One of his tumors had an SUV of 6.3 on July 14th. On October 3rd, the SUV had decreased to 4.8.

Another tumor had an SUV of 5.3 on July 14th, which decreased to 4.2 on October 3rd. We are so thankful for this positive step in Scott's treatment.

We decided to go ahead with maintenance chemo, but he's going to take 1 more month to recover from surgery/radiation before he starts. We think that it's important for him to have a chance to feel good for a little while before he starts back up with treatment. He has been through SO much already!

He will have labs drawn on November 3rd. We will meet with Dr. Charlson that day also, to discuss the results, and make sure Scott is ready to start again. 

He will start temozolomide/irinotecan chemo on November 7th. These are the 2 chemo drugs that he ended with in May, right before his surgery. I believe he will be doing 4 day chemo weeks, with 2 weeks off between each round. We aren't sure how many rounds he will do yet. They will do scans to check him throughout his treatment.

We are so thankful that God has allowed his body to tolerate such harsh treatments! He is doing SO well, and all praise goes to our amazing and gracious God, who has been by our side every step of the way! 

If you have seen Scott around lately, I'm sure that you would agree with me. He looks great! He is working and getting stronger. He is getting more energy back the further he gets from being done with radiation. I'm so proud of him for pushing himself. I know it's not easy for him. 

I'm glad that in the next month off of treatment, Scott will be feeling good and be able to celebrate Myles 7th birthday and Lexi's 14th birthday! We will also be able to go camping the last weekend in October. Scott and I have only camped once all summer long, so it's due time for us!!! 

Thank you all for your continued prayers for our family! God hears every prayer!

Psalm 106:1 Praise the Lord. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.heart

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