Chipping?

June 26, 2008

I had understood Erin's doctor to say, when we started irinotecan/temador five and a half weeks ago, that she expected the drug combo to chip away at Erin's tumor. When she and I looked at the images of today's CT scan compared with the last one in clinic this afternoon, we both thought chipping was not exactly the right word. To our combined four eyes, Erin's tumor looked considerably smaller than it did last month. We will have to wait for the official pronouncement, but Dr. Russell was smiling quite a lot. In fact, she seemed disappointed that I wasn't smiling more. I told her that there was such a change in the pre-Rhino/post-Rhino Erin that I think I already knew that the scan would look good, had incorporated that information into my thinking, and had already moved on to "what's next?"

I'll post when I know the official dimensions, but until then. . .significantly smaller sound more accurate than chipped.

That information clears the deck for three more rounds of the Rhino with scans right at the start of school and the okay to vacation with inpugnity. With the last day of my summer class scheduled for tomorrow and Erin's 11th birthday party launching on Saturday, I say, "I thought summer would never arrive. Let the fun begin."