2011-11-24: Kidney and CyberKnife Update, correction about liver rupture timeline

Talked to my radiation oncologist today. Here's some updates:

Kidney Update

• Apparently the ultrasound didn't see anything in either kidney or my bladder, or in the surrounding plumbing that may indicate the left side pain I've felt for the past few weeks. I may be feeling "referent" pain from another source; possibly the liver or the lymph node near the kidney.
• This unfortunately (or fortunately because no new problems?) means that there isn't any steps they can taken to solve that left side pain using the equivalent of a pipe-cleaner solution that they had suggested. (If vein was clogged and causing pain, pipe-cleaner (catheter) to unclog it might have relieved pain.)

Cyber Knife Update

• They like to wait 10 days after tracer/marker insertion (to ensure tracer movement due to swelling stops) before doing the CT scans and mask creation that begins the "planning" stage. So 10 days equals mid-week next week. I'm expecting a call of a date from the scheduling person soon to say exact day / time.
• The actual Cyber Knife operation usually takes at least 1 week after the planning scans are done to give time for the actual mathematical 3D planning required to target the right tissue (tumors) inside the target (liver) to a millimeter (mm) accuracy. So the week after next would be the soonest I can expect a date/time for the actual radiation to be applied.

Correction regarding my liver

• I may have made the following statement, either in person (definitely) or in my blog (not sure) but it is wrong. The statement I was making was, "If my liver capsule (lining) ruptures then I will only have at most 2 weeks left to live."
• I apparently picked up this time schedule from an isolated case where the person whose liver did rupture hadn't yet been diagnosed with cancer, and when the rupture occurred was not treated in a timely fashion allowing many days of internal bleeding before being treated.
• In my recent research, I could not find another case that had as short a time-line as that 2 week case. In all other cases I've found, the individuals lasted many months (or in some cases years) after surgery was able to repair the rupture/tear and suction out any leaked fluid.

So in summary, if I've hinted that I may be lucky to reach Christmas 2011 due to the threat of my liver rupturing, then I appologize. I was working with invalid assumptions and Christmas definitely looks doable, though lasting until the end of the kids' school year may be more of a challenge.

My goal is still to last until Kaye finishes her schooling in Dec of 2012 (at least). Though that is likely a very optimistic goal at this point.

Regards,
Shane