Oh Me, Oh Man, Octreoscan
If you haven’t ever tried, it’s fairly difficult to come up with something that rhymes with Octreoscan.
Originally scheduled to begin on Monday, Sarah’s Octreoscan instead began Tuesday. She was injected with indium In-111 chloride on Tuesday at 1:00 p.m. On Wednesday at 1, we returned to the nuclear medicine facility where they scanned her chest, abdomen, and pelvis with a Gamma-ray camera. The In-111 attaches itself to any carcinoid, “lighting up” any tumors in the scan. We then met with the oncologist later yesterday to discuss the results and had a follow-up scan this afternoon. The follow-up scan was to create a “3D” version of the scan.
From yesterday’s scan, the carcinoid is in Sarah’s liver as we’ve known all along and is in some lymph nodes near where her stomach and esophagus meet. There were no signs of carcinoid anywhere else, which is good news naturally.
With her local physician yesterday, we discussed three likely treatment options. These included everything from trying experimental chemo- (or other-) therapy, to trying surgical options, to continuing to try to learn more before making that decision. His recommendation, which we generally agree with, was to find a physician who was a carcinoid specialist who might be inclined to treat the carcinoid aggressively. We would then plan on scheduling visits with that physician as appropriate to hear what those options might be. At that point, then, Sarah would begin to choose between those three basic treatment strategies.
We also briefly discussed another new patient of his who happened to be diagnosed with carcinoid 20 years ago, but had not done any follow-up or treatment. The key point being she was diagnosed 20 years ago.
Several have asked, and I’m sure many more are wondering, but we’re very fortunate to have an excellent insurance package through my work (www.mpix.com, order prints please, baby needs a new pair of shoes). We are in great shape as far as that goes, even considering we might be planning to go to Anywhere, USA, to visit with that other physician.
I’d also like to “publicly” point out that we’ve been very pleased with the care we’ve received, both in Poplar Blufff and in Columbia, and have every intention right now of continuing care in Columbia, at least partially. While we’d encourage one of the Columbia physicians to consider phrasing things a bit differently, I don’t have any issues with what he told us and feel it was his best, honest opinion, including the fact that we should consider talking to other physicians and he’d help with that process. The physician we’ve seen most frequently in Columbia (and whom some on this e-mail string know), has been very helpful, very pleasant, and a valuable resource.
I’d also like to publicly point out that you can’t spell “sucks” without KU. The Tiger baseball squad plays Cal State Fullerton this weekend for the chance to go to Omaha for the College World Series. I realize the chance to go to Omaha doesn’t sound like much, but the athletic department folks are rightly excited about that opportunity. Game time is 9 p.m. CDT Fri, Sat, and Sunday on one of your ESPN stations.
I’d also like to point out that Jim Bob Cooter was suspended from the University of Tennessee football team. When contacted, his mom was quoted as saying “Jim Cooter sounded too durn classy.”