Cancer Diary January 2001

The year 2001 begins with more promise than did 2000 when new growth in Neila's tumor had her in chemotherapy again. Most of the debilitating effects of the treatment have receded and she feels better than she has in a long time. We can have no illusions about the disease--the sixth year after a lung cancer diagnosis is "borrowed time"--but events in our lives have also shown that with cancer, as with most things, individuals are not statistics. For the moment we continue to be thankful for each new day given us.

Friday, January 26

Office Visit with Dr. Jivesh Sharma. Dr. Sharma was Neila's first oncologist whom she had to leave reluctantly two years ago when her insurance ran out and he was not on Kendall's plan. At the beginning of 2001 Kendall's employer, American Airlines, changed to an insurance carriers that he was a member of, so Neila jumped at the chance. Today's visit was mostly getting reacquainted. He ordered a complete set of scans as a place to start. He also said that Neila has survived more than 90% of patients with her type of lung cancer. He meant this as good news, but it could be taken to mean she has less time left

Wednesday, January, 31

MRI, CT scan and Bone Scan at Presbyterian and Southwest Diagnostic. This took most of the day, but Neila completed a Bone Scan, and MRI of the chest and abdomen, and a CT scan of the head. We went back at 7 pm Monday for a mammogram