No Chemo Sabe?

What comes after my upcoming surgery? That question was on my mind this week as I kept an appointment with the oncologist who has been watching over me since my Feb. 2009 sarcoma surgery.

Back in my first encounters with this physician, he scared me with talk of inpatient chemo as a means to keep a recurrence at bay. We settled then on close surveillance with no follow-up chemo, in part because I had just endured four months of chemo. Now I was wondering if he was going to sugggest inpatient chemo again after my Aug. 4 surgery.

He surprised me by saying we might opt again for close surveillance, and the reason was something I hadn't considered. Turns out some chemos carry lifetime maximums. Apparently the drugs I received in 1996-97 with breast cancer and the course in 2008-09 for sarcoma -- involving four of the most effective chemo drugs still in use -- aren't recommended to be taken repeatedly.

Follow-up treatment decisions won't be made until I see the oncologist again in September and we have biopsy results from the surgery. So now my feelings are mixed -- part relief that he is considering no chemo, and part dismay that my treatment options are limited.

Funny how you suddenly think you want something -- even as unpleasant as chemo -- as soon as someone suggests maybe you can't have it!

Here we go again

Past readers of this blog will know immediately what my title means, and it's not heralding good news. But it's not terrible, either.

The physicians who have kept a close eye on me for nearly three years now saw something they didn't like in my latest CT scans. So I have a date with one of my favorite surgeons August 4 at OSU Medical Center.

I am not ready to pronounce this latest development as Cancer 2.1, but it is a suspected recurrence of the sarcoma I battled from the fall of 2008 through February 2009, when a 10-pound tumor was taken from my adbdomen. That it might be back is not a surprise; it's what my brand of sarcoma tends to do.

The good news is I feel great and have no symptoms other than a picture on a CT test. With my 1996 breast cancer and my Cancer 2.0, I felt lumps before doctors diagnosed malignancies.

And I am thankful I even had this last round of CTs. My oncologist had considered not doing another set of scans before my last four-month checkup. But I liked the security of hearing my innards were cancer-free, so he scheduled new tests at my request.

Just in case, I am starting my blog back up and putting out a call for prayers. Being able to express myself here, and knowing that family and friends were praying for my recovery was great medicine before, and I know it will be again.

Thanks in advance for putting in a good word for me!