Dr. Stein called today to let us know that they have a meeting scheduled between him, the oncologist, and the radiologist on Monday. Together they will determine which lymph node to remove. They are trying to ensure a testable sample this time. The difficulty with which one is that Carlene was prescribed several days of a steroid when this all started...unfortunately, the steroid affected the nodes in her neck and they may not be able to get a correct result from one of them. The next best area to biopsy is from her armpit, but only one node "glowed" on the PET scan showing the presence of cancer there and that node is small and rests high in the armpit. Finding that exact one causes difficulty. The final area to biopsy from is her chest. She has several larger nodes behind the ribcage which are the best to biopsy, but that entails a more intrusive surgery, so they are hoping to find a different solution, but might decide on it. He will give us a call when they know what the plan is.
Thank you all for your prayers and support while we wait this out. Everyone says the waiting is the worst, because you don't really know what to worry about. Hopefully the wait will be behind us soon and we can move on to treatment. In the meantime, Carlene has done a remarkable job with the change of diet =) Limiting sugar, milk and red meat have been the most difficult (have you ever tried to buy something that does not contain high fructose corn syrup, etc? If not, try it...check out your pantry and see just how little you have in there that does not contain it...but she is devoted to eating healthy...a salad is not complete without a WHOLE tomato on it...she has become a pro at taking her handful of vitamins...she has learned to enjoy her Monavie drink and is enjoying fresh processed juice. She says she now drinks her apples =) Next time you see her, ask to see her beautiful, long fingernails...a benefit of being soooo "healthy".
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