The Unvarnished Truth

Greetings Loyal Readers,

Your Faithful Correspondent has the latest, if not the greatest to share with you today. Let's get right to it, shall we?

Of course, you're used to YFC putting a nifty little spin on things, but this here is the cold, unvarnished truth. Since her last dose of radiation (April 4th), Mom's been getting a lot of fevers (at least daily). When Mom gets feverish, she also has a corresponding drop in energy and typically gets the chills. Oh, and we wouldn't want to forget about the night sweats either. So, as you can imagine, Mom's had a pretty lousy month. She had a brief respite right around my birthday (again, thanks for all the cards and presents) but otherwise it's been downright yucky (that's a medical term).

Monday, Mom had a CT scan and yesterday she saw Kent "Cotton Stork" Sato, her interventional radiologist (that's him, at right). We got a bit of a mixed report. Lettuce start with the good news (get it lettuce, let us...c'mon people lighten up a bit. On second thought, you're right, it really wasn't very funny)...it looks like the most recent dose of radiation has been working like a charm. As you recall, Mom got the radioactive seeds (a/k/a TheraSpheres) directed to the right side of her liver last month. The tumor on that side appeared to have a bit of a rim around it and now that rim has gone the way of the dodo (to my non-zoologically inclined readers, that means it went bye-bye). The Doc thought that it meant* (* - more on this in a bit) that the radiation was doing it's job; or, as Zoe might say, the radiation was "kicking the tumor in its butt."

Unfortunately, things don't seem to be going as well for the tumor on the left part of Mom's liver. The left part was treated first and does not seem to be responding as well to the TheraSpheres. Ok, this might seem like odd timing, but YFC just thought of a song that Melvin used to sing...something she learned at overnight camp -- I hate liver/Cause liver makes me quiver/Liver makes me shiver up and die, die die... Finally, YFC and his sibling can agree on something...YFC also hates liver. Come to think of it, YFC thinks all offal is awful (by the by, at left is a Russian offal chart that YFC has so graciously posted for your benefit). Get it, offal...awful? Yeah, we'll stick that in the crisper right next to the lettuce joke.

Now, remember that little asterisk above? Well, it was there for a reason. The Doctor based his opinions on the results of Mom's CT scan. However, the CT scan cannot really distinguish between living tumors and a dead ones. But a PET scan (Positron emission tomography...glad you asked?) can, so 2 Fridays from today, Mom will...you guessed it...have a PET scan (the machine looks like that picture, at right). After the Stork reads the PET scan, we'll have a better idea how things are progressing. However, barring something completely unforeseen, Mom will have more seeds implanted on the left side of her liver (this hasn't been scheduled yet, but we're shooting for the end of May). Most likely Mom will get a larger dose of the seeds than she got last time cuz, you know, she's getting kind of tired of this whole tumor nonsense, so she wants to irradiate that little bugger into oblivion.

Incidentally, Dr. Stork (can't believe this didn't come to YFC sooner...Doctor + Stork = Dork. Coincidence? Methinks not. But to be clear, he's a very likable sort) said that Mom's fevers weren't necessarily a good sign or a bad sign. They might not be a bad sign, but all the same, Mom would just as soon get rid of 'em.

Finally, by popular request, YFC will again dip into his reader mailbag:

Dear YFC,
You are sooo great! I think about you all the time. Your Mom is so lucky to have you...
(Note: the superlatives went on for 6 single-spaced pages, but in the interest of time, this has been severely edited)
Is there any one quality that makes you #1?

Signed,
Your Faithful Fan

Dear YFF,

Thank you so much for your kind words. Now to answer your question: YFC is #1 for oh so many reasons, but perhaps the main reason: selflessness. YFC had dinner with Mom this Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. He also accompanied her to her appointment w/ Dr. Stork and her chiropractor. But does he do it for glory or adulation. Of course not. YFC does it because he loves his Mommy. That alone is reason enough.

Thanks for writing.

Well at any rate, it's soon to be the witching hour (no, that wasn't a comment about my Sister...although it could be). Do your bit and keep Mommy in your thoughts, k?

More soon...

Faithfully,
Corey