That's what the doctor said about the tumor in Mike's neck. He says it's not necessarily bad but wants to go ahead with a CT scan nonetheless. It hasn't gotten any smaller this time, that is for sure. So it has me a little bit worried because I really need to hear that this thing is shrinking. I am not prepared for anything else.
Dr. Neel also told us that there's a brand new test that might be able to pinpoint the origin of this cancer. He called it an "assay" which is some type of analysis of chromosomes or enzymes or some such thing. Anyway, he had the test run on the cells collected from one of Mike's biopsies. It seems to indicate that this cancer could have started in his lungs. (A total stunner since he's NEVER smoked. Dr. Neel says secondhand would be to blame. So if you're still smoking, STOP.) He's not totally sure the test is accurate because it's so new and other tests point to a head or neck origin, but he says it's more information and he's going to process it and review it and figure out what to do with it. It could mean a tweak in the medications he gets during chemotherapy, we just don't know yet.
Speaking of chemo, we spent 7 hours at the infusion center Tuesday. I was in worse shape than Mike. Poor guy has cancer, is undergoing chemo, and his wife is the one balled up in the recliner sick to her stomach and suffering from a migraine headache. He needs a stronger support system than me for sure. Anyway, so far Mike is hanging in. He cleaned the pool this morning and is at work now. The hiccups are back but not as bad. Usually after this long chemo, he's wiped out for a few days, so we're just trudging along.
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