After a Long Silence....

Trouble, largely, is busy elsewhere, leaving us pretty steady in our situation.  Ed is still having chemo every three weeks.  After about 9 months, the doc thought it was really important to have another CT scan.  I have no idea why, but Ed had been resisting it and finally decided that the doc's preferences could have a turn.  Despite the fact that the CEA numbers have hovered around normal for the past 3-4 months, nobody is thinking that this cancer is going away or is in remission or anything like that.  But the doc wanted to know 'what was happening,' and so Ed signed up for the CT and the results were that yes, there are tumors still there, although one near the liver had disappeared.  Some of the tumors have increased a bit in size, and there is one near the pleura that is new.  Others have stayed the same or decreased slightly.

Upon seeing these results, the oncologist said, "well, if you were in a clinical trial, they'd make you drop out."  And then went on to point out that there is really no research to guide what is the best approach.  They could go back to an earlier agent (whose side effects were difficult) or they could just keep on with what they were doing.  He didn't suggest quitting the chemo.  So, the latter is the choice of the day.

This all happened last month, but it seemed largely a non-event, so I didn't get motivated to write about it.  But, for accuracy's sake (assuming accuracy has a sake), here it is.  This coming Monday is another day at the confusion center.

But the bottom line is it's all, as a practical matter, pretty much as it has been for the past year.  We are here; Ed is doing what Ed does.  But summer has abandoned us and we are wet and grey and getting colder, but we have a new propane stove in the living room that makes us warm, and we have a cat who is devoted to us.  Or we are devoted to her.  I guess the latter more than the former, although we are the only human beings that she actually likes.